Published February 23, 2021 8:18pm A witness against detained Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday resumed his testimony in the drug case filed against the lawmaker before a Muntinlupa court. Joel Capones, a convict from the New Bilibid Prison and commander of the Sigue Sigue Sputnik Gang, has accused De Lima of receiving money from the illegal drug trade when she was justice secretary. On Tuesday, he underwent cross examination by the defense. “In his testimony, (Capones said he) delivered first the money to Jaybee Sebastian, the P1.4 million, and when the senator then Secretary of Justice arrived, Jaybee Sebastian handed the money to Secretary De Lima. That is part of the testimony,” lead prosecutor Ramoncito Bienvenido Ocampo Jr. told reporters after Tuesday s hearing at the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 256.
Philippine police escort Leila de Lima on her way to a local court to face an obstruction of justice complaint in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines in this file photo from March 13, 2017. - Reuters
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): Opposition Sen Leila de Lima on Wednesday (Feb 17) won one of the three drug cases filed against her by the Duterte administration in connection with alleged involvement in a conspiracy to promote drug trade at New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
She said acquittal even in one case under Duterte was already a victory.
Denied bail, however, she will continue her four-year detention pending the resolution of the two other cases.
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How the Supreme Court decided on key public interest issues
By BULATLAT STAFF
An independent judiciary is integral in a democratic society. After the ouster of former president Ferdinand E. Marcos, the framers of the 1987 Philippine Constitution included provisions guarding freedoms fought for by those who resisted the former dictator.
While safeguards against another tyrannical rule have been inserted in the highest law of the land, administrations after Marcos attempted to cling on to power. Even as the Constitution explicitly states the civilian authority is supreme over the military, succeeding administrations still resorted to militarist approach in dealing with social injustices. Some of the Martial Law era doctrines have remained, and are being used against critics and ordinary folk.
endIndex: Proper medicolegal death investigation requires a science-first, multidisciplinary approach that employs a cadre of vetted, qualified, and impartial experts and focuses on fact-finding surrounding the death event. Illustration by JL JAVIER
Editor’s note: Dr. Matthew Go is a forensic anthropologist currently working at the U.S. Department of Defense agency tasked with identifying and repatriating the remains of all missing military personnel from past armed conflicts. His scholarly focus has been developing both the research and professional practice of forensic anthropology in the Philippines as a means to improve the outcomes of medicolegal death investigations. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.