THE High Court dismissed detained Senator Leila De Lima’s motion for reconsideration regarding her petition to attend the oral arguments of the Philippines’ exit from the International Criminal Court (ICC). This as minority solons have petitioned for the incarcerated senator to argue via audio feed.
The Supreme Court (SC) said in a statement on Friday that it has “denied the pending Motion for Reconsideration” of Ms. De Lima.
“The Court, in denying petitioner’s motion for reconsideration, found that no new argument had been presented to warrant a reconsideration of its earlier resolution,” the SC said.
In its en banc session on Aug. 7, yhe High Court denied Ms. De Lima’s Manifestion with Motion to attend the oral arguments. The detained senator filed her Motion for Reconsideration two weeks later.
Ms. De Lima and other minority senators — Francis N. Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, and Antonio F. Trillanes IV — filed a case in the SC which questioned the validity of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s pulling the Philippines out of the ICC.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Pangilinan said that the opposition senators had filed another motion for reconsideration for Ms. De Lima to take part in the oral arguments via live video or audio feed.
The motion, dated Aug. 23, reads: “To demonstrate to the Honorable Court that Senator De Lima’s motion to personally appear during oral arguments is not a ploy to escape detention, Senator De Lima is willing to argue while in detention through a live video and/or audio feed.”
The minority bloc added, “It would be the height of irony to prohibit Senator De Lima to argue on a constitutional issue of paramount national importance, given that the Honorable Court has allowed furloughs to persons charged with non-bailable offenses.” — Gillian M. Cortez

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