Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 14) — Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday said she is currently catching up with everything she missed after being detained for almost seven years.
“I have several options and I have to go back, I think, to my law practice and my teaching career in law school,” De Lima told CNN Philippines’ Balitaan, adding she will also continue pursuing her advocacies.
Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source, De Lima’s lawyer Boni Tacardon said among the former senator’s priorities are seeing her 91-year-old ailing mother, who she last saw four years ago, as well as rebuilding her life and reputation.
“We are just enjoying the moment,” he added.
De Lima on Monday was allowed to post a ₱300,000 bail for her remaining drug case, giving her provisional liberty after six years and nine months of detention. She was detained for allegedly benefitting from the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison while she headed the Department of Justice and using the drug money to finance her senatorial campaign in 2016.
READ: De Lima: ‘Complete vindication’ is the goal
The former senator has denied this, saying the charges were made by the Duterte administration to silence her as she is a staunch critic of the bloody war on drugs and former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Tacardon said while De Lima focuses on herself, their legal team is preparing to question the evidence of the prosecution.
“We are now in the process of filing our opposition to the formal offer of evidence of the prosecution,” he said, noting the court’s decision is expected by December.
Once resolved, Tacardon said they will request for the filing of a demurrer to evidence, or a motion to dismiss a criminal case. This will be based on their camp’s “claim that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”
Tacardon said it is possible a final decision on De Lima’s third drug case will be made if not within the year then in the next few months.
“We have gone through all these documents, we have heard the testimonies of the witnesses and the court himself evaluated the testimonies and said they cannot be believed and he cannot give credence to these testimonies… we are looking in the direction of the total dismissal of the case,” Tacardon said.
