Case closed: Court reaffirms acquittal of Leila de Lima, former aide

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 has reaffirmed the acquittal of Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and her former aide, Ronnie Dayan, on illegal drug charges.

In an order dated Sept. 30, the RTC granted the prosecutor's motion to withdraw the appeal to overturn de Lima’s acquittal.

The underscored that every acquittal is final upon its promulgation and is no longer subject to correction and amendment. With this, granting the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration would violate the Constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy because “it would effectively reopen the prosecution and subject the accused to a second jeopardy despite their acquittal.”

"Considering this case already involves an acquittal, the Court shall exercise sound discretion and allow withdrawal of the prosecution's motion for reconsideration," the order dated Sept. 30 read.

“With the withdrawal of the motion for reconsideration, this case is hereby deemed closed and terminated,” it stated.

The prosecutors filed the appeal seeking to reverse de Lima's acquittal on July 14 on one of the drug charges against her. A few days later, on July 23, they decided to withdraw the motion for reconsideration due to the grounds of double jeopardy.

“It should not have been filed in the first place,” Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said at the time.

The RTC Branch 204 first acquitted de Lima and Dayan in May 2023. Afterwards, her other pending drug cases were dismissed in 2021 and 2024.

She is known as one of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critics during his administration's bloody war on drugs. The latter accused her of running a drug trafficking ring with criminals when she was justice secretary, forcing her from the Senate into a jail cell.

She served five years of her six-year term as senator in police detention despite key witnesses retracting their allegations since then.