THE fifth case filed against Senator Leila De Lima and two others before the Department of Justice (DOJ) with regard to their alleged links to the illegal drug syndicate of self-professed Eastern Visayas drug trader Kerwin Espinosa is now submitted for resolution.
The preliminary investigation on the drug trafficking charges filed against the senator, her former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan, and Espinosa has already been concluded on Friday, January 6.
The complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is in relation to Dayan and Espinosa's admission before the separate hearings of the House of Representatives and Senate that they delivered drug money to the then-Justice Secretary De Lima for her 2016 senatorial bid.
Espinosa, who was under the custody of the NBI, was the sole respondent to appear before the five-man panel at the DOJ; De Lima and Dayan failed to show up.
This was the third time that De Lima and Dayan snubbed the subpoena issued by the DOJ.
They also failed to appear in the previous hearings conducted by the panel on the consolidated cases filed against them for violation of the Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The panel of prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong has directed all the respondents to file their respective counter-affidavits until January 13.
De Lima, who was represented by his legal counsel Bonifacio Tacardon, insisted once again before the panel that the Ombudsman's has the jurisdiction over the case filed against his client.
The panel likewise rejected the appeal of De Lima's camp to resolve first the Omnibus motion they earlier filed with the DOJ asking the panel to inhibit and turn over the case to the Ombudsman.
The prosecutors also rejected the motion of De Lima's camp for additional time to submit their counter-affidavit.
Ong said they will resolve the pending Omnibus motion filed by De Lima and the resolution at the same time. He added that the panel will no longer accept counter-affidavits submitted beyond the given deadline.
Aside from this case, also pending for resolution before the DOJ are the consolidated cases separately filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, former NBI Deputy Directors Ruel Lasala and Reynaldo Esmeralda, Bilibid high profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian, and the NBI. (Sunnex)
