SolGen: De Lima fabricated petition filed in SC

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Tuesday said detained Senator Leila De Lima fabricated the jurats in her petition and the attached affidavit of Merit filed before the Supreme Court. (Photo: Leila de Lima/ Facebook)

MANILA—Solicitor General Jose Calida on Tuesday said detained Senator Leila De Lima fabricated the jurats in her petition and the attached affidavit of Merit filed before the Supreme Court.

”The Notary Public did not go to Crame. I have affidavits. The notary public met with her she must be imagining things baka espiritu ng lawyer,” Calida told reporters when sought for a comment before the continuation of oral arguments on the petition filed by De Lima questioning the legality of her arrest in connection to the drug raps filed against her.

He said the jurat in her petition was signed by the Senator when there is no record in Camp Crame that she was visited by the notary public.

Under Rule II, Section 6 of the Rules on Notarial Practice, a Jurat is an act in which an individual appears in person before the notary public and presents an instrument or document. Said person, who must be personally known to the notary public or identified by the notary public through competent evidence of identity, signs the instrument or document in the presence of the notary and takes an oath or affirmation before the notary public as to such instrument or document.

Without the jurat or if it is fake, Calida said it will appear that no petition has been filed.

De Lima maintained that the jurat was authentic, insisting that the notary public met with her in Camp Crame.

In a press conference held in Manila, Atty. Alex Padilla legal counsel of De Lima said that the Office of the Solicitor General’s statement on the alleged defect in the notarization of her petition to the SC is a false allegation.

According to De Lima, the notary public met with her at Camp Crame for the former to notarize the petition that she signed. De Lima further said that, contrary to the OSG’s claim, the notary public was, in fact, in Camp Crame, when the Senator was brought there.

De Lima points out that the OSG, by repeatedly attempting to resort to the basest of technicalities, and in lieu of substantial arguments against the merits of her Supreme Court petition, is scraping the bottom of the barrel for whatever argument is left to support her continued illegal detention. The senator said that the OSG attack is obviously borne out of desperation.

But Calida said there is nothing in the logbook to show that the Senator is telling the truth.

“Even Vice President Leni Robredo has signed the logbook when she visited Senator De Lima,” Calida explained.

He said they have affidavits to show that they are telling the truth.

For his part, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said that there is no conflict between his office and the Office of the Solicitor General office on the positions of their respective offices on the criminal charges filed against De Lima before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court.

Aguirre said if there is conflict in the information filed by DOJ prosecutors and the position of the Solicitor General as claimed by de Lima’s lawyer, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, then they would already have amended the information filed against the detained lawmaker but that as far as they can see, there is none.

“If there’s conflict in the information filed by the panel of prosecutors and the OSG’s interpretation, there should already have an amendment but we did not amend the information since there is no conflict,” Aguirre told reporters in a chance interview Tuesday before the Supreme Court resumes its oral argument on de Lima’s plea seeking to nullify the arrest warrant issued against her by a Muntinlupa court.

Calida echoed Aguirre’s position, saying there is no truth to Hilbay’s claim.

“It’s very clear there is no conflict between our positions. The conflict is just a figment of their imagination,” Calida said.

Earlier, Calida said he is confident that De Lima’s petition will be dismissed.

Calida is representing Muntinulpa RTC Judge Juanita Guerrero and the Philippine National Police as respondents in this case.