Technical flaw could scuttle De Lima's bid for freedom
MANILA – A supposed defect in the petition filed by detained Senator Leila de Lima could scuttle her bid to get a relief from the Supreme Court.
De Lima, currently detained at the police headquarters in Camp Crame, is asking the SC to invalidate the drug charges against her on various grounds.
However, her petition is at risk of being junked because of alleged falsification in her petition.
De Lima is accused of falsifying the "jurats" in her verification and certification against forum shopping and affidavit of merit of her petition. A jurat requires that the petitioner signs her petition in the presence of a notary public.
READ: Did De Lima falsify notarization of Supreme Court petition?
Solicitor General Jose Calida, representing Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero, asked the court to junk De Lima’s petition because it “produces no legal effect” and suffers from a “fatal infirmity”.
“A litigant must come to court with clean hands. A party who comes to court with unclean hands cannot be allowed to profit from her own wrongdoing. Senator De Lima is not exempt from this time-honored rule,” Calida said in his opening statement.
“At the outset, De Lima attached fabricated jurats in both the verification and certification against forum shopping and affidavit of merit of her petition. De Lima, in conspiracy, with her sorority sister, Atty. Maria Cabalo, a notary public, falsified the jurats mentioned earlier.”
De Lima's counsel, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, told magistrates of the high court during the continuation of oral arguments today that the senator took her oath before Cabalo on February 24 at around 9 a.m. at Camp Crame.
Cabalo, in her affidavit, said she “was informed the petition was already signed and ready for notarization. I was then provided the petition by her staff. I examined the signature of Senator De Lima and confirmed that it was signed by her.”
In admitting that De Lima did not sign her petition in front of her, Cabalo argued she is familiar with the look of the senator’s signature. She nonetheless asked that senator’s staff give her a photocopy of De Lima’s signature-bearing government ID for verification.
Reacting to Cabalo’s affidavit, SC Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. said, from the very affidavit of Caballo alone, “it shows there was a non-compliance with our 2004 rule on notary public."
Under scrutiny by Velasco, Hilbay defended De Lima and Cabalo's actions, saying "they discussed the contents of the petition the night before. Senator De Lima is personally known to the notary public. No one is disclaiming the contents. No one is disavowing any statement in the petition."
In the previous two oral arguments, De Lima's camp centered its arguments on the lack of concrete evidence against the senator, the conflicting positions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) over which specific provision of the anti-drug law the senator supposedly violated, the lack of jurisdiction of the Muntinlupa court to tackle De Lima's case, and the lack of qualification of the witnesses to testify in the case.
Source:ABS-CBN News
De Lima, currently detained at the police headquarters in Camp Crame, is asking the SC to invalidate the drug charges against her on various grounds.
However, her petition is at risk of being junked because of alleged falsification in her petition.
De Lima is accused of falsifying the "jurats" in her verification and certification against forum shopping and affidavit of merit of her petition. A jurat requires that the petitioner signs her petition in the presence of a notary public.
READ: Did De Lima falsify notarization of Supreme Court petition?
Solicitor General Jose Calida, representing Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero, asked the court to junk De Lima’s petition because it “produces no legal effect” and suffers from a “fatal infirmity”.
“A litigant must come to court with clean hands. A party who comes to court with unclean hands cannot be allowed to profit from her own wrongdoing. Senator De Lima is not exempt from this time-honored rule,” Calida said in his opening statement.
“At the outset, De Lima attached fabricated jurats in both the verification and certification against forum shopping and affidavit of merit of her petition. De Lima, in conspiracy, with her sorority sister, Atty. Maria Cabalo, a notary public, falsified the jurats mentioned earlier.”
De Lima's counsel, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, told magistrates of the high court during the continuation of oral arguments today that the senator took her oath before Cabalo on February 24 at around 9 a.m. at Camp Crame.
Cabalo, in her affidavit, said she “was informed the petition was already signed and ready for notarization. I was then provided the petition by her staff. I examined the signature of Senator De Lima and confirmed that it was signed by her.”
In admitting that De Lima did not sign her petition in front of her, Cabalo argued she is familiar with the look of the senator’s signature. She nonetheless asked that senator’s staff give her a photocopy of De Lima’s signature-bearing government ID for verification.
Reacting to Cabalo’s affidavit, SC Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. said, from the very affidavit of Caballo alone, “it shows there was a non-compliance with our 2004 rule on notary public."
Under scrutiny by Velasco, Hilbay defended De Lima and Cabalo's actions, saying "they discussed the contents of the petition the night before. Senator De Lima is personally known to the notary public. No one is disclaiming the contents. No one is disavowing any statement in the petition."
In the previous two oral arguments, De Lima's camp centered its arguments on the lack of concrete evidence against the senator, the conflicting positions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) over which specific provision of the anti-drug law the senator supposedly violated, the lack of jurisdiction of the Muntinlupa court to tackle De Lima's case, and the lack of qualification of the witnesses to testify in the case.
Source:ABS-CBN News
