The Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court granted on Monday the bail petition of former senator Leila De Lima and her two other co-accused in the last remaining illegal drug case against her pending before the local court.

After more than six years in detention, De Lima will be released from detention following the decision of Presiding Judge Gener Gito of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 dated 10 November granting bail amounting to P300,000 each to De Lima, former Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Jesus Bucayu, Ronnie Dayan, Joenel Sanchez and Jose Adrian Dera.

"Wherefore, premises considered, the respective Motions for Reconsideration of the concerned accused are granted. Thus, the Order of the Court dated June 07, 2023, is reconsidered. Consequently, accused De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez and Dera are allowed to post bail in the amount of THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS (P300,000.00) each," Gito wrote in his decision.

Lawyer Bonifacio Tacordon, counsel of De Lima, said that the legal team will work to get her released on Monday.

"Sinabi ni judge in open court. Sabi niya, briefly: 'I granted the bail application of the accused," Tacordon said.

"We all believe that she is innocent and all these charges are trumped up," he added.

One by one, government witnesses recanted their testimonies against De Lima, saying they had been coerced into implicating her in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison while she was justice secretary during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.

De Lima was acquitted in a conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading case in May, with Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 saying the recantation by former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos of his testimony had created reasonable doubt.

Ragos had earlier claimed he delivered drug money to De Lima in 2012.

The court said in its ruling in May that "vigilance in eradicating illegal drugs cannot come at the expense of disregarding the rule of law."

The former lawmaker has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since 24 February 2017 following the issuance of a warrant of arrest by Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204.

The warrant of arrest was issued by Guerrero in case no. 17-165, one of the three drug cases filed against De Lima by the Department of Justice under the Duterte administration in February 2017.

Two of the three cases have been dismissed by Muntinlupa courts.