Detained Senator Leila M. de Lima has asked a Muntinlupa City court to dismiss her second drug-related charge for insufficiency of evidence.
In an 82-page filing, Ms. de Lima said the prosecution had failed to present evidence that would show that the case involved illegal drugs.
The lawmaker also said the prosecution had failed to prove that she conspired with her co-accused to commit illegal drug trading.
Ms. de Lima said the prosecution in the past three years had failed to specify the type of drugs and quantity involved in the alleged illegal drug trade.
The senator, who is a staunch critic of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, filed a similar pleading this week for one of her three drug trafficking cases.
Ms. de Lima is on trial for allegedly abetting the illegal drug trade in the country’s jails when she was still Justice secretary. She was accused of extorting millions of pesos from a drug lord that she allegedly used to finance her senatorial campaign in 2016.
She has been jailed at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since February 2017. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas