MANILA, Philippines- Nilinaw ni Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ang pahayag niya sa radyo nitong Linggo na nagbigay ng impresyon na hindi siya naniniwala na inosente si dating Senator Leila de Lima sa drug charge, kung saan napawalang-sala siya noong Biyernes.
Sa Executive Session program ng DZRH, kung saan isa siyang regular co-host, ibinahagi ni Remulla ang kahalagahan ng acquittal ni De Lima.
“Para malinaw, pag in-acquit, hindi ibig sabihin wala talagang kasalanan. Kundi, hindi matibay ang ebidensya. Kaya may tinatawag na reasonable doubt, may pagdududa ang guilt nya kung puro o hindi,” giit niya.
“Basta pag may reasonable doubt, reason to acquit yan, pero di nangangahulungang walang kasalanan talaga. Yun talaga ang batas, para fair,” dagdag ni Remulla.
Kinondena ng mga taga-suporta ni De Lima supporters at human rights advocates ang komento ng kalihim.
“That holds true for all cases in the country. Acquittals are triumph of the rule of law. Because, as we say, when there is reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, the courts are constrained to rule in favor of the doubt. Because nobody should be convicted when there is a doubt as to the guilt of the accused,” aniya nitong Lunes.
Subalit naniniwala ba siyang “guilty” si De Lima?
“I do not have enough information. I didn’t witness the statements made but I saw the records of the cases. And I would say that it was a well-fought legal battle that happened there,” paliwanag niya.
“The De Lima case is not the perfect case. I do not want to dwell too much on it. I don’t want to be a spoilsport. I don’t want to criticize the judge. But jurisprudence is replete with statements that recantations are not looked upon with favor by the courts. This is an exception to the general rule, what happened to the De Lima case, where this was given a lot of faith by the court and I have no other comment,” giit ng kalihim.
Subalit sinabi ng Justice chief na bukas ang posibilidad na magkasa ng perjury case laban kay Ragos.
“Possible, theoretically possible,” aniya.
“There has to be an interested party for us to file it or maybe we will ask the prosecutors involved if they feel like doing it. But we are not engaging anything. Maybe the prosecutors who were directly involved in the cases, in the case buildup might want to talk to us about filing another case,” patuloy ni Remulla. RNT/SA
