Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 26) — Senator Leila de Lima has filed a motion seeking to reconsider a Muntinlupa City court’s decision rejecting her request to attend Senate meetings virtually.
In a seven-page motion for reconsideration filed on June 22, the detained senator asked Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 205 to reassess its June 17 Joint Order, which ruled allowing her to take part in Senate sessions online “is no different from allowing her to attend there physically.”
The order also stated allowing her to partake in sessions in the Senate via teleconferencing “would be tantamount to allowing her to participate even after the state of public health emergency.”
De Lima said she is “utterly at a loss” on the court’s legal basis for its denial.
“With all due respect, the Honorable Court’s reasoning is neither here nor there in terms of applying the Supreme Court ruling in Trillanes and Jalosjos that legislators under detention are expected to have legislative output and perform the functions of their office within the physical limitation imposed upon them by the conditions of their detention,” said the senator.
“Substantially, the last word of the Supreme Court on the matter is that so long as the detained legislator is able to perform legislative functions within his or her place of detention, there is nothing in the law that prevents him or her from doing so,” De Lima added.
De Lima likewise noted the Muntinlupa court’s decision is “most alarming,” as new Senate Rules provide her an opportunity “to add to the kind of legislative work she can accomplish while inside her detention cell.”
She also emphasized her participation does not involve stepping out her detention cell nor the immediate premises of the PNP Custodial Center, where she’s being detained at the moment.
The Senate passed a resolution last month allowing teleconferencing during plenary sessions and committee hearings due to force majeure or occurrence of any emergency which bars senators from attending physically, such as quarantine restrictions that have been declared on Metro Manila in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
De Lima also reiterated her proposed virtual participation shall end “when the Senate itself declares that the force majeure or emergency no longer exists, thereby necessitating the physical presence of Senators within the Senate premises to be able to participate in sessions and committee hearings.”
