Detained Senator Leila de Lima and her counsels do not stop complaining of her having been kept in detention for more than a year, claiming her innocence and the unfairness of it all.

If she believes she is innocent, she should then start working on her defense and evidence to prove her case in the right court of justice.

De Lima, of course, blames President Duterte for her continued detention, but the verifiable fact is that it is her, and her counsels’ fault because she insists on running to the Supreme Court, jumping the hierarchy of courts line, with the sole intent on getting her drug cases transferred to her pal, the Ombudsman, expecting Carpio Morales to clear her. After all, they are both yellows and the Ombudsman does protect the yellows.

De Lima has refused too many times to recognize the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court’s jurisdiction, filing more and more cases on the same theme before the High Court while de Lima and her counsels continue to seek postponements for her arraignment through their numerous motions before the SC and the RTC and wasting the time she could have started on her defense and evidence to counter the prosecution’s charges.

And she does this intentionally, for her to get sympathy from the international rights groups while feeding them false information that these groups use to destroy Duterte in hopes of getting him ousted.

But de Lima’s delaying tactics have come to an end as the SC on Wednesday issued its final ruling, upholding the constitutionality of the accused senator’s arrest over her drug charges.

The SC denied with finality in a one page En Banc resolution de Lima’s motion for reconsideration.

But will this resolution stop de Lima from bugging the SC and start recognizing the jurisdiction of the RTC court’s branches handling her three different drug cases as well as her style of putting off her arraignment?

It doesn’t look like it, as she was quoted as saying that she would still file yet another motion of reconsideration despite the Court already having stated that no further pleadings will be entertained by the High Court.

In its ruling the SC had stated that the “basic issues raised” in the detained senator’s appeal “have been passed upon by this Court and no substantial arguments were presented to warrant the reversal of the questioned decision,” making it clear to one and all that whatever de Lima’s petition on this issue of her arrest as ordered by the RTC, it has jurisdiction over all drug cases, and not the Sandiganbayan, even if she is a government official, which was her argument.

The SC had earlier ruled that the Muntinlupa RTC has exclusive jurisdiction over the drug charges against de Lima, even if her position with salary grade higher than 27 is under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan.

The Court earlier had ruled that the RTC has the jurisdiction over criminal information alleging violations of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

“It also noted that the exclusive original jurisdiction of the RTC over violations of Republic Act 9165 [Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002] is not transferred to the Sandiganbayan whenever the accused occupies a position classified as Grade 27 or higher, regardless of whether the violation is alleged to have been committed in relation to the office being occupied,” the SC Public Information Office said last year.

“The Sandiganbayan’s jurisdiction is limited to violations of the anti-graft laws and does not extend to violations of the drugs law”.

De Lima, who is a lawyer, certainly knows that when the SC says it is a final decision, on her motion for reconsideration and will not entertain any more motions, it means that final is final, and the decision won’t change.

However, de Lima is said to plan yet another motion for reconsideration, which will certainly no longer be entertained by the court, whose patience appears to have run out on de Lima and her pleadings which are obviously meant to buy her more time from being arraigned.

Her lawyer, former Solicitor-General Florin Hilbay, claimed it is so unfair to keep de Lima in detention for over a year, without her knowing what the charges are.

If his client, de Lima, stopped her delaying tactics, she should appear before the RTC branches and be officially informed of what charges she faces.

Besides, when she was justice chief, she showed no compassion at all for the political foes of her boss, such as former President Gloria Arroyo and the three opposition senators who had been detained for more years than she has spent in her detention cell. She should stop whining. This is what fate has in store for her.

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