A Muntinlupa court on Friday granted the prosecution panel's petition for reconsideration to reopen the trial on the drug case of detained former Senator Leila De Lima.
In the two-page order, Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara ordered the case to reopen "in the interest of justice and to give the parties the fullest opportunity to present evidence."
"There is no precise provision in the rule of the Court governing a motion to re-open a case for the reception of rebuttal evidence after a case has been submitted for decision but before judgment. It is a judicial action which is controlled only by the utmost interest of justice and rests entirely on the sound discretion of the Court," he said.
"The Court does not shrink from its responsibility to receive evidence in order to ferret out the truth," Alcantara added.
The hearing happened yesterday, April 28 at 8:30 am, with Public Attorney Office (PAO) counsel Demiteer Huerta testifying the rebuttal evidence.
Huerta is said to be one of the two PAO lawyers present when former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II threatened and coerced former Bureau of Corrections Deputy Director Rafael Ragos to falsely testify against de Lima.
The former Senator and her legal counsel were present during the hearing.
The promulgation of the judgment is scheduled on May 12, 2023.
Earlier, the camp of the former Senator asked the Muntinlupa RTC to deny the plea, citing that the latter's case has been submitted for decision, hence the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence is waived.
