Govt can appeal ruling granting bail to de Lima - Panelo

Former Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo on Monday said that the government can appeal the court's decision to grant bail to former senator Leila de Lima.

Panelo, the chief legal counsel of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said that the prosecution can also introduce further evidence «to make a case for conviction.»

«The recanting witnesses have not proven before the court that their previous adverse testimonies on De Lima were done under threat or that they were coerced into falsely testifying before the court,» the former Palace official said.

«Moreover, even without their testimonies there is strong evidence establishing the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt,» he added.

De Lima gained her temporary freedom after the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 allowed her to post bail on the remaining drug-related case filed against her. She was acquitted in the two cases.

Panelo said that if the former lawmaker is exonerated, «she nevertheless deserves her years of detention for the wrongdoing she has committed against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when as the then sitting Secretary of Justice, she defied the order of the Supreme Court by stopping the former from leaving the country for medical treatment.»

«She may evade liability from the crime she is accused of — but she definitely can not escape the law of karma,» he said.