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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Metro Manila devider De Lima expresses dismay over OSG's move following her drug case acquittal

De Lima expresses dismay over OSG's move following her drug case acquittal

Published Sep 13, 2023 11:14 am

Former senator Leila de Lima expressed dismay over the Office of the Solicitor General's move regarding her acquittal in a drug case last May in Muntinlupa. 

In a decision last May 12, Presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 acquitted De Lima and Ronnie Dayan in case 17-165, which accused the two of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.  

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Former senator Leila de Lima at the Muntinlupa Hall of Justice for a hearing on Sept. 11 (Contributed photo)

It was one of the three cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in February 2017 during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. 

The Muntinlupa court dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by government prosecutors in July. 

“Every acquittal becomes final immediately upon promulgation and cannot be recalled for correction or amendment. With the acquittal being immediately final, granting the State's motion for reconsideration in this case 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,” the judge wrote in his decision denying the motion for reconsideration.  

The OSG filed a petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals (CA) regarding the dismissal of De Lima’s case. 

De Lima expressed disappointment over her continued persecution. 

“I am, of course, greatly dismayed by the OSG's move in elevating to the CA the judgment of my acquittal in one of my 3 trumped-up drug cases,” she said in a statement written from her detention facility in Camp Crame. 

De Lima emphasized that “an acquittal is an acquittal, a final and conclusive disposition of the merits of the case which, under firmly settled case law, is no longer appealable, save for very exceptional grounds or circumstances, none of which can be legitimately invoked to question the 12 May 2023 Decision of the RTC-Muntinlupa, Br. 205 exonerating me and my co-accused.”

“What is exceptional here is the persistence of my persecutors to perpetuate this travesty of justice by keeping me incarcerated,” she said. 

Two of the three drug cases, including 17-165, filed by the DOJ against De Lima were already dismissed. Case 17-166 was dismissed by a Muntinlupa court in February 2021.

All the three cases are for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. 

Case 17-167 is pending before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206.

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Muntinlupa City Leila de Lima
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