The story begins in late November of 2016 at the House of Representatives.
At that time, Rodrigo Duterte had already decreed that Leila de Lima must be destroyed. And what better way to do that than manipulate Congress to begin De Lima’s annihilation, with Congress pretending that it acted independently of the infamous Duterte vitriol for vengeance.
The pretext used were hearings conducted by the House Justice Committee on the Bilibid drug trade. That was the day when Congress shed off its constitutional duty to fiscalize the executive. The Duterte trademark is shaming. No other president in our history used gossip as part of statecraft.
He had already revealed a sordid approach to bend public opinion to him: use Ronnie Dayan, De Lima’s driver and bodyguard when she was secretary of justice. Duterte himself said Dayan was De Lima’s lover. That titillated the gossipy president. But Dayan was in hiding. When he was finally arrested in La Union, he was promptly brought to the House of Representatives.
Now the show was in the hands of the House Justice Committee chair, Reynaldo Umali of the 2nd district of Oriental Mindoro. Upon being delivered by his police captors to the House, Dayan made the upset admission: the drug lord Kerwin Espinosa was giving kickbacks to De Lima through him, Dayan, as the bagman.
It was at this juncture that we now clearly see Umali’s role as Duterte attack dog. Umali said Dayan would execute an affidavit for a later testimony in the House. And for that, he needed lawyers. Media covered this so well that it is easy to bring back the pieces of the puzzle.
“We have given Dayan an opportunity to select a lawyer out of his personal choice pero as of this morning, wala pa rin. So we informed him that we requested the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to assist him and he seems amenable to the lawyer to be provided,” Umali said in a press conference.
Umali said that in his request to the IBP to help Dayan, the IBP responded by providing two even up to three lawyers for Dayan.
“Meanwhile, Umali identified the two IBP lawyers who will assist Dayan in the execution of his affidavit. These are lawyers Manny Buenaventura and Abet Reyes.”
What generous souls. This was public service lawyering pro-bono for a man set to testify against Leila de Lima. Umali requested, IBP responded gratis et amore.
The Umali script was perfect for Duterte. The subsequent hearings in the House elicited derisive laughter against De Lima from the congressmen themselves. Netizens were shocked. “It was like researching for a Precious Hearts Romance story rather than interpellating a witness,” said one. But it succeeded in shaming her as the scriptwriter had madly desired.
On January 7, 2021, Reynaldo Umali died of cardiac arrest secondary to the Covid virus and Stage 3 liver cancer, and the dominoes began to fall. In 2022, Dayan testified in court that it was Umali who asked him to invent stories, particularly that he got money from alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa. Espinosa had also recanted his previous testimonies, saying the police “coerced, pressured, intimidated, and seriously threatened” him to pin down De Lima.
It has been said that a lie may open many doors but they will only be slammed in your face when the truth comes out. Time was just lurking in the corner. Finally, a kernel of the truth went the rounds of social media. When it was fact-checked, it gave away startling realities of information arousing moral distaste and contempt.
Emmanuel “Manny” Santos Buenaventura was not plucked out of nowhere to assist Ronnie Dayan. He was actually a politician from Umali’s 2nd district of Oriental Mindoro. In fact, he was elected to the Oriental Mindoro Provincial Board for the term 2019-2022. He won again in the elections of 2022 for the same post together with Jean Paulo Umali, the son of the late congressman.
Apparently, the Buenaventuras are into politics themselves like the Umalis. Two Buenaventuras, Butch and Gary both ran for municipal councilor of Pinamalayan in the 2022 elections. Pinamalayan is part of the 2nd district of Oriental Mindoro.
Martin “Butch” Santos Buenaventura himself had also run as provincial board member in Umali’s district in the 2016 elections. Running with him in the Liberal Party was Paulo Umali. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has confirmed Paulo as the son of Reynaldo Umali.
Since De Lima’s incarceration, very little was known about the Buenaventuras. Three previous judges who had inhibited themselves for various reasons had handled her pending third case at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 256. The fourth judge is Romeo S. Buenaventura.
Judge Buenaventura was appointed to the Lucena City RTC Branch 59 on November 12, 2015. He is a member of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) as a judge of the 4th Judicial Region. On June 8, 2020, Rodrigo Duterte appointed him to his present post at Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256. He will retire in August 2036.
Judge Buenaventura, in all these times of handling the Leila de Lima third case, has hidden his real identity. He has forgotten that we are in the age of verifiable information at our fingertips. He was elected Provincial Board Member of Oriental Mindoro’s 2nd district for the term 2010-2013.
Last May, the judge attended the birthday party of his brother Martin. In attendance were the Ronnie Dayan lawyer Manny Buenaventura, Paulo Umali, and other former politicians of Oriental Mindoro. The party was held at Zone I Pinamalayan, the hometown of the Buenaventuras. Current Provincial Board Member Butch Soller of the 2nd district posted the photos on his Facebook account.
The judge’s continued handling of the remaining case of Leila de Lima plainly shows us the political nature of her persecution. His presence in this case only leads to the question of how fair, impartial and independent is our justice system.
The main problem is not even that this was a judge appointed by Duterte.
In a November 25, 2016 TV interview, Manny Buenaventura told CNN Philippines that it was he who helped Dayan prepare his affidavit.
Romeo Santos Buenaventura never revealed his conflict of interest since the case was raffled to him, that Dayan’s lawyer in the House hearings was his own brother. Is that not malice? He should inhibit now if he truly has sound discretion.
This is what the judge has to answer for, unless he waits for censure from our judicial authorities: Section 1. Disqualification of judges. — No judge or judicial officer shall sit in any case, in which he is related to counsel within the fourth degree. (Rules of Court, Rule 137)
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
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