A Muntinlupa court on Friday, May 12 acquitted former senator Leila De Lima in one of her two remaining illegal drugs charges.
The promulgation of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 was announced by de Lima’s legal counsel Atty. Boni Tacardon.
“Ang sinabi ng hukuman ay although napatunayan na meron ngang illegal drug trading sa loob ng National Bilibid Prison, walang napatunayan na ebidensya o positive evidence ang prosecution na mag-uugnay kay [former] senator Leila de Lima at kay Ronny P. Dayan sa sinasabing illegal na kalakaran ng droga,” Tacardon told reporters.
He added that the recantation of former BuCor officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos also helped in nullifying the evidence previously presented by the prosecution.
“Nagkaroon ng reasonable doubt sa accusation laban kay [former] senator Leila De Lima. Kaya dahil dito, [former] senator Leila De Lima is acquitted beyond a reasonable doubt,” Tacardon said.
However, despite De Lima being proven not guilty, she cannot be released from detention yet.
The Muntinlupa RTC 256, which also handles her last drug case, has yet to issue a decision on the former senator's petition for bail.
De Lima, meanwhile, welcomed the court’s decision, saying that since the beginning she had no doubt that she would be “acquitted in all the cases that [the] Duterte regime has fabricated” against her.
“That’s already two cases now and one more to go. I am of course happy that it is the second acquittal in the three cases filed against me. My release for more than six years of prosecution is nearer,” she said in a letter read by her legal counsel.
Dating Sen. Leila de Lima sa acquittal sa isa 2 nalalabing kaso: “I had no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted in all the cases that Duterte regime has fabricated against me” | @dzrhnews pic.twitter.com/eIgxEFGLTJ
— Christian Maño (@xtian_mano) May 12, 2023
The former lawmaker has three drug charges in total. One of the charges was dismissed in February 2021.
De Lima, a staunch critic of former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, was accused of receiving drug money from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) when she was the secretary of justice in a bid to fund her campaign in 2016.
In 2022, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, De Lima's former bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, and Marcelo Ardecoro retracted their previous drug accusations against de Lima.
Ragos, the star witness of the case, also recanted his testimony against the former senator and said that he was just coerced by former justice chief Vitaliano Aguirre II into making false accusations.
