THE camp of detained former senator Leila de Lima yesterday filed an administrative complaint before the Supreme Court (SC) against a Muntinlupa trial court judge who belatedly inhibited from her last drug case when his brother was revealed to be involved in the former senator’s prosecution.
A statement issued by lawyers Teddy Rigoroso, Dino De Leon and Rolly Francis Peoro after the filing of the complaint before the High Court’s Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) alleged Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Judge Romeo Buenaventura’s inhibition from De Lima’s case despite his disqualification stemming from his brother’s role and involvement in her prosecution was “willful, knowing and deliberate, thus malicious.”
Buenaventura inhibited himself from handling the case only in June this year.
The defense lawyers he should have inhibited when the case was filed since his brother, lawyer Emmanuel Buenaventura, had previously taken actions in the past that were favorable to the prosecution, such as giving advice to Ronnie Dayan in executing an affidavit implicating De Lima in the supposed drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was still the justice secretary.
The judge’s sibling also served as a legal adviser to the late lawmaker Reynaldo Umali, who headed the House Committee on Justice, which conducted hearings in Congress on De Lima’s alleged involvement in the drug trade in October 2016.
In May last year, Dayan retracted his claims in the affidavit and testified that he had been coerced into signing it.
The defense lawyers alleged Judge Buenaventura deliberately withheld his blood relations to lawyer Emmanuel.
Though he eventually inhibited from the case, the complainants said he allowed the trial to proceed in his sala despite knowing that there was a possible conflict of interest due to his brother’s involvement with Dayan, who served as De Lima’s driver and security escort for a time.
Buenaventura had earlier rejected De Lima’s bail petition.
“Itong kaso ay isang administrative complaint dahil sa belated na pag inhibit ng isa pong judge na humahawak sa kaso ni former senator Leila de Lima. Sa pagtingin po ng mga complainants, tainted po í½ung ganong klaseng belated inhibition dahil dito ay nagkaroon ng sense of impropriety í½ung mga proseso at nakitaan ng hindi patas kumbaga dahil belated lang natuklasan at hindi dinis-close na si Judge Buenaventura pala ay related sa isang abogado sa isang co-accused ni senator de Lima (This case is an administrative complaint due to the belated inhibition of one of the judges handling the case against former senator Leila de Lima. The complainants said this belated inhibition was tainted with a sense of impropriety, and the process appeared to be unfair, as it was discovered late and not immediately disclosed that Judge Buenaventura is related to a lawyer who represented a co-accused of senator De Lima),” lawyer Maria Cristina Yambot, who is serving as legal counsel of the complainants along with law dean Antonio “Tony” La Vina, told reporters after the filing of the complaint.
The complainants said the trial of the case went on for three years without Buenaventura disclosing that his brother was involved in the prosecution’s case.
“Dahil sa nangyaring ito, sinasabi natin na ang belated inhibition ay nagresulta sa pagka-delay ng kaso at sa pagkakaalam naman natin, ilang taon na si senator de Lima Lima sa kulungan at di pa rin sya pinagbibigyan na makapag-bail man lamang. At dahil dito, sinasabi natin na may role, malaki ang role ni Judge Buenaventura sa pag-continue ng detention ni senator de Lima at sa pagdeny nito sa kanya ng bail at dahil sa kanyang conflict of interest ni judge ay tainted po ang proseso (Because of this incident, we can say that the belated inhibition resulted in the delay of the case and, as we know, senator De Lima has been in detention for many years now, and she has not been granted bail. With this, we say that Judge Buenaventura has played a big role in the continued detention of senator De Lima and in the denial of her bid to post bail and because of the conflict of interest, we can say the process was tainted),” Yambot added.
La Vina said Buenaventura should have inhibited early on from handling De Lima’s case due to the said conflict of interest.
“He should have inhibited early on in the case when he had conflict of interest already,” La Vina said.
The complainants appealed to the JIB to scrutinize Buenaventura’s action and decide on the appropriate penalty for him.
