DOJ prosecutors ask Muntinlupa RTC to reverse Leila’s acquittal

State prosecutors have asked a Muntinlupa City court to reverse its acquittal of former Senator Leila de Lima, and her former bodyguard Ronnie Dayan of drug charges.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors filed a motion for reconsideration before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204.

The court acquitted the accused earlier this month following the recantation of former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos of his drug allegations against the former legislator.

In a 39-page decision, the Muntinlupa RTC stated that though the prosecution was able to establish the existence of rampant illegal drug trading at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Ragos cast reasonable doubt on De Lima and Dayan’s involvement in it.

Ragos told a Senate hearing in 2016 that he delivered, along with aide Jovencio Ablen Jr., P5 million in proceeds from the illegal drug trade inside the NBP to the lawmaker’s house in Parañaque City in 2012. He retracted his testimony in May 2022.

The prosecutors, in their motion, said the Ragos’ recantation did not “vitiate his original testimony” and other evidence presented proved “all the elements of the crime charged, including the role played by both accused in the illegal drug trading inside the NBP."

“A review of the records confirms the merit of the Prosecution witnesses’ assertions and will persuade the Court that its decision indeed disregarded facts that were clearly and indisputably proven by the evidence presented by the Prosecution,” the DOJ prosecutors said.

“We are of the view therefore, that the plea of the State must be granted and the reversal of the assailed decision is in order,” they added.

De Lima’s camp said they would challenge the government’s appeal.

They described the prosecutors' motion as a "mere scrap of paper," saying the proceedings "have already been concluded with finality with the judgment of acquittal."

"Nothing short of a Supreme Court decision reopening the case can vest the judge with jurisdiction anew to alter a judgment of acquittal, which is final and executory immediately, hence unappealable, whether by MR with the trial court or appeal to a higher court," they added.

De Lima marked her sixth year in jail in February after she was detained in 2017 for allegedly abetting the drug trade inside the NBP.

She has since denied the accusations. Her remaining case is pending at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256, where she has sought to post bail and is awaiting the decision of the court. —NB/VBL, GMA Integrated News