De Lima faces retrial after CA overturns drug case acquittal

The Court of Appeals has overturned the 2023 acquittal of former senator Leila de Lima and her former aide Ronnie Dayan in a drug trafficking case.

In a decision dated 30 April 2025 and made public on 15 May, the CA’s Eighth Division granted a petition for certiorari filed by the Office of the Solicitor General, nullifying the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204’s ruling that cleared the two of conspiring to enable drug operations inside the New Bilibid Prison during De Lima’s tenure as justice secretary.

The appellate court, through a ruling penned by Associate Justice Eleuterio L. Bathan, said the trial court committed grave abuse of discretion by heavily relying on the recantation of former Bureau of Corrections official Rafael Ragos, who had earlier claimed he delivered drug money to De Lima. Ragos later disavowed his testimony, saying he had been coerced — a reversal the lower court accepted without sufficiently weighing its effect on the case.

According to the CA, the RTC failed to assess the credibility of Ragos’ recantation against the backdrop of other prosecution evidence and did not provide a detailed explanation of its legal reasoning. This, it said, deprived the government of a valid basis to appeal and violated due process.

The court further ruled that double jeopardy — which protects an accused from being tried twice for the same offense — does not apply because the acquittal, having been issued with grave abuse of discretion, is considered invalid from the start, allowing for a retrial.

De Lima, a staunch critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs, has consistently denied the charges, calling them politically motivated. She was granted bail in 2023 after nearly seven years in detention and has since returned to public advocacy.

The case will now return to the trial court, which has been directed to reexamine the evidence and issue a new ruling in accordance with the law.