Judge in De Lima case found guilty of simple misconduct, neglect of duty over delays
The Supreme Court (SC) found the Muntinlupa judge who handled the drug case of former senator Leila de Lima guilty of simple misconduct.
In a resolution, the SC said Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256 Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura violated the New Code of Judicial Conduct, ordering him to pay a fine of P18,000.
Buenaventura was also found guilty of simple neglect of duty in the performance or non-performance of official functions and was fined another P18,000. He paid a total of P36,000.
“Respondent Romeo S. Buenaventura is STERNLY WARNED that a repetition of the same offense or the commission of a similar act shall be dealt with more severely,” the resolution read.
De Lima's lawyers filed a case against Buenaventura for allegedly violating judicial ethics and causing undue delay in ruling on her motion for bail in Criminal Case No. 17-167, one of her three drug cases.
Different Muntinlupa RTC branches would dismiss the drug cases in 2021, 2023, and 2024. Before the last dismissal, De Lima was released from detention after her bail was granted in November 2023.
But there was a delay in her release. The senator filed a motion for bail in Criminal Case No. 17-167 in December 2020 which would only be resolved in June 2023.
Buenaventura denied her motion, as well as her appeal afterward. He would inhibit in the case later on after De Lima's co-accused Ronnie Dayan filed a motion against him.
The motion noted that Buenaventura is the brother of Erwin Buenaventura, the lawyer who assisted Dayan in executing his affidavit. Dayan would later admit to being coerced.
Buenaventura voluntarily inhibited from the case but maintained that he wasn't privy to his brother's actions.
The case would be re-raffled to Presiding Judge Abraham Alcantara but he also inhibited later on. It was ultimately handled by Presiding Judge Gener Gito.
The SC said Erwin's ties to Dayan make Presiding Judge Buenaventura answerable to Canon 4 Section 4 of the New Code of Judicial Conduct.
The section states that judges "shall not participate in the determination of a case in which any member of their family represents a litigant or is associated in any manner with the case."
The SC also noted that it's unconvinced that Buenaventura "had no inkling of his brother’s relationship with Dayan, as the congressional hearings in 2016 were much publicized."
The high court also noted the “undue delay” in Buenaventura's rendering of a decision or order. It said that under the Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases, a petition for bail involving drug cases shall be resolved in 20 calendar days without the need for oral argument or memoranda.
Buenaventura said the delays were due to suspensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the SC didn't accept it, saying videoconference hearings had been available since January 2021.
“Respondent therefore had sufficient means at his disposal to resolve the motion for bail," it said. "Given the summary nature of bail proceedings, it was imperative for the respondent to resolve the motion in the most expeditious manner possible."
De Lima served five years of her six-year term as senator in police detention, starting on Feb. 24, 2017, during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
She was one of Duterte’s fiercest critics amid his bloody war on drugs or Oplan Tokhang. As then-commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights in 2009, she launched an investigation into the "death squad" killings allegedly orchestrated by Duterte during his time as Davao City mayor and in the early days of his presidency.
After winning a Senate seat in the 2016 elections that also swept populist Duterte to power, De Lima became one of the few opposition voices.
Duterte then accused her of running a drug trafficking ring with criminals when she was justice secretary, forcing her from the Senate and into a jail cell.
Throughout the legal proceedings, De Lima has insisted the charges against her had been trumped up in retaliation for going after Duterte and his drug war.
