Former Sen. Leila De Lima —File photograph/Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Courtroom has discovered Muntinlupa Regional Trial Courtroom Decide Romeo Buenaventura responsible of easy misconduct and neglect of obligation in dealing with the high-profile drug case in opposition to former Sen. Leila de Lima.
In a decision issued on Nov. 13, 2024, the excessive court docket’s First Division imposed a fantastic of P36,000 on Buenaventura—P18,000 for easy misconduct, constituting a violation of the New Code of Judicial Conduct, and one other P18,000 for easy neglect of obligation within the efficiency or nonperformance of official features.
“Respondent Romeo Buenaventura is STERNLY WARNED {that a} repetition of the identical offense or the fee of the same act shall be handled extra severely,” the excessive tribunal stated.
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The case stemmed from an administrative grievance filed by attorneys Teddy Esteban Rigoroso and Rolly Francis Peoro, De Lima’s authorized counsels, who alleged that Buenaventura violated judicial ethics and brought about undue delay in ruling on their consumer’s movement for bail in Felony Case No. 17-167, whereby she was accused of unlawful drug buying and selling.
De Lima’s movement for bail in that case was filed on Dec. 14, 2020, and took three years to be resolved, on June 7, 2023, below Buenaventura’s watch.
Battle of curiosity
State prosecutors had accused De Lima of conspiring with Franklin Bucayu; Bucayu’s employees member, Wilfredo Elli; the late New Bilibid Jail (NBP) inmate Jaybee Sebastian; police informant Jose Adrian Dera; and De Lima’s former aides Ronnie Dayan and Joenel Sanchez of drug dealing within the nationwide penitentiary for her 2016 senatorial marketing campaign funds.
Felony Case No. 17-167 was certainly one of three drug instances in opposition to De Lima that have been finally dismissed by completely different Muntinlupa courts in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Earlier than the ultimate case was resolved, De Lima, a former justice secretary, was granted bail in November 2023 and launched from detention.
Rigoroso and Peoro, of their grievance in opposition to Buenaventura, stated he ought to have instantly recused himself on account of battle of curiosity, contemplating that his brother, lawyer Emmanuel Buenaventura, had performed a “direct and essential position within the preparation of proof” resulting in De Lima’s prosecution.
Emmanuel Buenaventura served as authorized adviser to the late Rep. Reynaldo Umali, the previous chair of the Home of Representatives committee on justice, which led the 2016 inquiry into the proliferation of drug buying and selling inside NBP.
The testimonies of useful resource individuals within the hearings, together with NBP convicts, fashioned the premise for 3 authentic conspiracy-to-commit-drug-trading instances filed in opposition to De Lima and her coaccused.
Brother’s actions
In separate motions for inhibition, Dayan, Sanchez and Bucayu stated that Emmanuel admitted in a tv interview on Nov. 25, 2016, that he assisted Dayan within the execution of his affidavit whereas Dayan was being held within the interview room of the Home of Representatives.
Buenaventura voluntarily inhibited himself from additional listening to De Lima’s remaining drug case however insisted he was not aware of his brother’s earlier actions as a lawyer.
In sanctioning Romeo Buenaventura, the Supreme Courtroom adopted the findings and suggestions of the Judicial Integrity Board (JIB), which stated that Emmanuel Buenaventura’s ties with Dayan throughout the 2016 congressional listening to made him answerable below Canon 4, Part 4 of the New Code of Judicial Conduct.
The supply states that “judges shall not take part within the willpower of a case during which any member of their household represents a litigant or is related in any method with the case.”
“Just like the JIB, we’re unconvinced that the respondent had no inkling of his brother’s affiliation with Dayan, because the congressional hearings in 2016 have been a lot publicized,” the Supreme Courtroom stated.
Pandemic
As for the three-year delay in resolving De Lima’s movement for bail, Buenaventura attributed it to work suspensions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, the Supreme Courtroom rejected this argument, declaring that videoconferencing hearings had been accessible since January 2021.
“Respondent due to this fact had adequate means at his disposal to resolve the movement for bail. Given the abstract nature of bail proceedings, it was crucial for the respondent to resolve the movement in probably the most expeditious method attainable,” the excessive court docket stated.
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