MANILA, Philippines – The remaining drug charge of former senator Leila de Lima has been re-raffled to another Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch, according to an order made public on Friday, June 30.

A court order signed by Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 204 Presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara indicated that the said court will now start handling De Lima’s last drug charge. The re-raffle came after Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 256 Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura, who originally handled the case, inhibited himself following the motions to inhibit filed by De Lima’s co-accused.

Presiding Judge Alcantara also set the continuation of the hearing on Friday, July 7. The new court that will handle De Lima’s case is the same court where she secured her second acquittal in May this year.

Now, the De Lima camp would have to wait if the prosecution will file a motion to inhibit to ask Judge Alcantara to distance himself from the case.

De Lima, staunch critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was jailed after she was slapped with three drug charges filed under the former president’s term. She was accused of allegedly enabling the drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison to fund her 2016 senatorial campaign.

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Two of the three drug cases were already dismissed, but De Lima remains detained because her petition for bail in her remaining drug charge was denied by Judge Buenaventura in early June. The De Lima camp earlier said they would file a motion for reconsideration with the new judge to ask that De Lima’s bail denial be reconsidered.

Delays aside, the verdict on De Lima’s last case could be released during the first quarter of 2024, following a directive from the Supreme Court’s Office of the Court Administrator. The OCA had ordered that the trial for De Lima’s remaining drug charge should be finished within nine months, in accordance with court rules. – Rappler.com