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Panelo’s ‘punishment’ comment shows motive for drug cases — De Lima

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<p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">MANILA — Former presidential counsel Salvador Panelo’s comment that former Sen. Leila De Lima “deserved” to be detained for seven years as punishment proves the drug cases against her were politically motivated, she said Wednesday.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">De Lima, speaking on ANC’s “Headstart” was reacting to Panelo’s statement that she deserved her detention as &quot;punishment for her persecution of former President Rodrigo Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City.&quot;</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">De Lima, a former chair of the Commission on Human Rights and a former justice secretary, had looked into allegations of extrajudicial killings that had been attributed to a “Davao Death Squad” allegedly linked to Duterte.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">“That very statement actually betrays the reason for the filing of cases,” De Lima said.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">“They’re now saying and they’re now admitting that they filed cases against me, that they jailed me as a punishment for the investigations that I conducted against Mr. Duterte,” she said.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:551px;height:565px;display:block;flex-grow:1" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1805814022211780610&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Anews-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2024-06-26T05%3A57%3A38.722070%3A8288a81e-12c5-4485-b10e-b8a011b28bc5%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=1adbd7b8ecd86c7b3864beaff04cf925b091c8ca&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" data-tweet-id="1805814022211780610"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">Panelo had also claimed that De Lima’s acquittal was a “grave error” since her lawyers had failed to show that statements later recanted by prosecution witnesses were made under duress.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">But De Lima called this a “stupid thing to say,” adding prosecutors had been given a chance to present their evidence and their witnesses. She said, citing the decision, that prosecution witnesses presented after her bail hearing did not add anything substantial to the case.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/13/23/why-muntinlupa-court-allowed-de-lima-others-to-post-bail">READ: Why Muntinlupa court allowed De Lima, others to post bail</a></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><p>Presiding Judge Gener Gito of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence &quot;for failure of the Prosecution to prove the guilt of all the accused beyond </p><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">reasonable doubt.&quot;</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">De Lima said that Panelo’s statement that her seven years in detention was punishment “says it all.”</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">She said she and her lawyers had been saying that she was being persecuted and not prosecuted on the three drug cases that have since been dismissed.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">“He just confirmed what we were saying all along… This is not an honest to goodness case but simply to get back at me for — in his words, punishment for my alleged persecution of Mr. Duterte,” she said, adding she was only doing her job when she looked into the DDS and into alleged extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a8SGC37cJAE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Panelo had said De Lima's detention was not injustice since it was "punishment for her persecution of former President Rodrigo Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City."</p>

Panelo had said De Lima's detention was not injustice since it was "punishment for her persecution of former President Rodrigo Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City."