SENATOR Leila de Lima’s petition filed with the Court of Appeals is like a hot potato that no magistrate wants to handle.
The petition, which seeks to stop the Justice Department from proceeding with its preliminary investigation of the cases filed against De Lima on allegations that she protected the illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary, has triggered a series of inhibitions by justices to whom her case had been assigned.
When the case was filed Jan. 23, the case was raffled off to CA Associate Justice Danton Bueser, who was tasked to write the decision.
On Jan. 27, Bueser inhibited himself from handling the case, saying he was a former member of the Liberal Party to which De Lima belonged. Bueser served as congressman for Laguna before he was appointed as associate justice of the appellate court.
During the Jan. 30 raffle, the case was assigned to CA Associate Justice Jose Reyes, but he also recused himself, bringing about a new raffle on Jan. 31.
But when the case was raffled off to CA Associate Justice Aurora Jane Lantion, she also inhibited herself from the case, saying she is a relative of one of the lawyers in the case.
On Wednesday, the case was raffled off to Associate Justice Nina Antonio Valenzuela of the CA Sixth Division, which is chaired by CA Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas-Peralta.
De Lima has argued that it is the Office of the Ombudsman, not the Justice Department, that has jurisdiction over her case.
The drug charges against De Lima were filed before the Justice Department by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and former National Bureau of Investigation deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala.
De Lima also argued that even Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II himself admitted that the cases will still be forwarded to the Ombudsman.
Besides, De Lima said the DoJ has already manifested bias against her, citing pronouncements made by Aguirre before the media.
Because of this, De Lima pleaded for the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction to stop the proceedings before the Justice Department pending resolution of her case on the merits.