Senator Leila De Lima (MNS Photo)
MANILA, Mar 21 (Mabuhay) –
“Desperate.” This is how Senator Leila de Lima described the move of the Solicitor General seeking the dismissal of the senator’s petition to nullify her arrest.
Solicitor General Jose Calida told the Supreme Court in a manifestation that De Lima supposedly falsified the notarization of her pleading.
The OSG alleged that one Atty. Maria Cecille T. Tresvelles-Cabalo administered the oath on De Lima on February 24, 2017, the day De Lima was arrested upon the order of Branch 204 Presiding Judge Juanita Guerrero. The OSG explained that Cabalo could have only administered De Lima’s oath at PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City since the former’s commission as notary public is for Quezon City.
The OSG also noted that Cabalo is a sorority sister of De Lima at San Beda College of Law’s Lambda Rho Sigma, which was co-founded by De Lima
In a press release sent by her office on Monday, De Lima pointed out that the Office of the Solicitor General “is scraping the bottom of the barrel for whatever argument is left to support her continued illegal detention” with its repeated attempts to “resort to the basest of technicalities, and in lieu of substantial arguments against the merits of her Supreme Court petition.”
“The senator said that the OSG attack is obviously borne out of desperation,” it added.
In the same press release, De Lima maintained that Calida’s allegation “has no factual basis.”
De Lima, according to the statement, met with the notary public at Camp Crame to notarize the petition that she signed.
The detained senator maintained that contrary to the OSG’s claim, the notary public was in Camp Crame when she was brought there.
De Lima was arrested last month over her alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison illegal drug trade. She is currently at the Custodial Center inside the police headquarters. (MNS)