Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 6) — Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara on Thursday inhibited himself from the third and last remaining drug case of former Senator Leila de Lima upon the request of state prosecutors.
The case was raffled to Alcantara on June 30 after Judge Romeo Buenaventura inhibited himself.
Alcantara, who acquitted de Lima in her second drug case last May, said he granted the prosecutors’ motion for voluntary inhibition not because their assertion is true but to put to rest any questions against his credibility, integrity, and fairness.
“At the very first sign of lack of faith and trust in his or her actions, whether well-grounded or not, the Judge has no other alternative but to inhibit himself or herself from the case,” he said in order.
“He or she should exercise his or her discretion in a way that the people’s faith in the Courts of Justice is not impaired. The better course for the judge under such circumstances is to disqualify himself or herself.”
The state prosecutors earlier asked Alcantara to inhibit from the case to “erase any doubt” on his impartiality.
In dismissing the charges against de Lima, a staunch critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Alcantara cited the recantation of former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos.
Ragos claimed that he delivered ₱10-million drug money to De Lima and it was used to finance her senatorial bid in 2016.
However, he retracted his testimony early last year, claiming that he was “coerced” by then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, an appointee of Duterte.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he cannot interfere with how the state prosecutors are handling de Lima’s case.
“We cannot direct them,” he said in a media briefing on Thursday. “The direction was set before. It’s their own volition that they’re doing this. We just respect it as part of institutional continuity.”
Source: CNN Philippines | July 6, 2023
