After more than seven years, former senator Leila de Lima has been acquitted in the last remaining drug case filed under the Duterte administration in Muntinlupa.
On June 24, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206 granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence, which is equivalent to an acquittal, filed on March 20 this year in case 17-167, one of the three cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in February 2017.
“Thus, assessing the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution, the Court is of the resolve and so holds that the prosecution was not able to prove the guilt of all the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” Presiding Judge Gener Gito wrote in the decision.
“WHEREFORE, for failure of the Prosecution to prove the guilt of all the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the respective Demurrer to Evidence filed by the accused are granted. Thus, Leila M. De Lima, Franklin Jesus B. Bucayu, Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, Joenel Tan Sanchez and Jose Adrian Tiamson Dera are acquitted of the charge against them,” he added.
Former senator Leila de Lima celebrates her legal victory with her supporters at the Muntinlupa Hall of Justice on June 24 (Jonathan Hicap)
Former senator Leila de Lima's lawyer Boni Tacardon shows the decision of the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 in the drug case against her on June 24 (Jonathan Hicap)
With this, all the three drug cases filed by the DOJ against De Lima have been dismissed.
Two of the three cases, 17-165 and 17-166, were dismissed by Muntinlupa courts in 2021 and 2023.
A demurrer to evidence is filed by the accused after the prosecution rest the case on the ground of insufficiency of evidence.
“Once a demurrer to evidence has been granted in a criminal case, the grant amounts to an acquittal. Any further prosecution for the same offense would violate the accused's constitutional right against double jeopardy,” according to a previous Supreme Court ruling.
In the three cases, the DOJ originally charged De Lima and others of illegal drug trading, but it later changed it to conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.
In case 17-167, the DOJ charged that between March 2013 and May 2015, De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez and Dera used inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa to sell and trade dangerous drugs using mobile phones and other electronic devices, and allegedly got the proceeds amounting to P70 million.
In an order dated Nov. 10 last year, the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 granted bail to De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez and Dera. They were released from detention after each posted bail amounting to P300,000 set by the court.
In granting bail to De Lima and her co-accused, the court ruled that “the prosecution was not able to discharge its burden of establishing that the guilt of the said accused is strong.”
This allowed De Lima to be released from detention after more than six years since 2017.
In her demurrer to evidence, De Lima stated that “what is significant in this case is that almost all of the most important evidence of the Prosecution have already been presented during the hearing for bail, and therefore passed upon by the Honorable Court in its 10 November 2023 Order declaring that the Prosecution's evidence is not strong, thereby granting herein Accused her application for bail.”
“Based on the record of the case, the Prosecution failed to show evidence of the supposed conspiracy between Accused De Lima and the other accused to commit illegal drug trading. More particularly, the Prosecution miserably failed in alleging what specific actions were committed by Accused De Lima which may be considered as in pursuit of the supposed conspiracy,” her motion stated.
It added, "Herein Accused contends that with nothing substantial to add to its bail hearing evidence, finishing off with a whimper consisting of inconsequential and recycled witnesses and a clutter of irrelevant, even exculpatory documents that indicate the absence of any financial transaction involving the Accused with any supposed drug lord who all remain unindicted in this case or the two other drug cases, the Prosecution is still unable to discharge its burden of establishing that the guilt of the Accused is strong.”
“With the findings of fact and conclusions of law arrived at by the Honorable Court in its 10 November 2023 bail Order finding the Prosecution witnesses' testimonies hearsay and not worthy of belief, and the witnesses themselves not credible for having been impeached as convicted criminals, the Prosecution simply was not able to salvage its case with its remaining witnesses and documentary evidence to possibly reverse the comprehensive and complete dissection and examination of its bail evidence by the Honorable Court in its 10 November 2023 Order,” it stated.
It asked the court that “premises considered, herein Accused prays of the Honorable Court that Accused's Demurrer to Evidence be granted, and that she be acquitted and declared not guilty for failure of the Prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”