Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday hailed the Muntinlupa court ruling allowing former detained Sen. Leila de Lima to post bail as proof of the “independence of the judiciary.”
MANILA - “What I’ve always been saying from the beginning and that they are free to decide as they please, as they deem fit and it just shows that democracy is alive and well in our country,” he told reporters after the ruling was announced.Asked if prosecutors will appeal the bail ruling, he said he will leave it up to the prosecutors, invoking “prosecutorial independence.”“I do not interfere with the prosecution especially these matters.
In a 69-page ruling, Gito said the testimonies of the prosecution's 9 witnesses "were not able to clearly establish that there exists a conspiracy among them to commit illegal drug trading." De Lima, 64, is accused of taking money from inmates inside the largest prison in the Philippines to allow them to sell drugs while she was justice minister from 2010 to 2015.
She conducted the probes while serving as the nation's human rights commissioner, and then from 2010 to 2015 as justice minister in the Aquino administration that preceded Duterte's rule.
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