DOJ withdraws motion vs De Lima acquittal

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has withdrawn a motion filed before a Muntinlupa court seeking to reverse the acquittal of Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima in one of her three drug charges.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla instructed the DOJ prosecutors to withdraw the motion, which was filed yesterday, according to Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon.

Fadullon said the motion “should not have been filed in the first place” due to double jeopardy.

The appeal was filed by the DOJ after the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 upheld the acquittal of De Lima and her former driver Ronnie Dayan.

They were accused of illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

De Lima welcomed the DOJ’s decision to withdraw the appeal.

“I thank and commend Justice Secretary Remulla for bringing sense and order to the unethical actuations of Prosecutor Ramoncito Bienvenido Ocampo and his panel of prosecutors,” De Lima said in a statement.

She called on Remulla to “investigate and sanction” Ocampo, whose action she said was “politically motivated.”

The DOJ had argued that De Lima’s acquittal mainly hinged on the recantation of the prosecution’s key witness, former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos, who initially claimed that he delivered P10 million in drug money to then justice secretary De Lima at her residence.

In 2022, Ragos recanted his testimony, saying that former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had coerced him to implicate De Lima in the illegal drug trade in Bilibid.

All three drug charges filed against De Lima have been dismissed. She spent seven years at the police Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City. – EJ Macababbad, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano