Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 11) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “cannot and will not intervene” in the pending cases against detained former senator Leila de Lima, a Malacañang official said on Tuesday.
“We’ll leave it up to the court to decide if she’s going to be freed based on the evidence or merits of her case,” Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil told reporters.
She made the response when asked if the President intends to act on the calls for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop the charges against the former lawmaker.
Garafil also said they will just let De Lima’s lawyers make the proper motion for her possible home furlough.
Calls for De Lima’s release have grown after she was briefly held hostage by an inmate who wanted to escape their detention facility over the weekend.
After the incident, the President’s sister Senator Imee Marcos urged De Lima to take up the home furlough supposedly extended to her by the DOJ and the Philippine National Police as early as July.
De Lima’s lawyers said they were unaware of such an offer. However, they added they are now studying this option for De Lima’s security.
Meanwhile, DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano was separately asked by the media on Tuesday if there could be changes in the way the department deals with De Lima following the hostage-taking incident. He said this “will depend on what the dialogue with the President will be like and what she (De Lima) asks for given the recent incident.”
One of De Lima’s lawyers earlier said Marcos asked the former senator if she wanted to be transferred to a different facility, but De Lima declined the offer.
De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center since 2017 for allegedly abetting an illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice Secretary. She has maintained her innocence and accused the Duterte administration of fabricating charges against her for investigating its bloody drug war.
The former lawmaker was acquitted in one of her three drug cases in February last year, while two others are pending.
Four witnesses have withdrawn their testimonies against her since late April.
READ: TIMELINE: De Lima’s five-year struggle in prison
