De Lima slams DOJ for ‘triple jeopardy’ in revived drug case

Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima berated the Department of Justice (DOJ) for seeking to overturn anew the decision of a Muntinlupa court that acquitted her of trumped-up drug-related charges, accusing government prosecutors of subjecting her to “triple jeopardy.”

The former senator and Justice secretary was already cleared of all three drug charges lodged by the Duterte administration in relation to her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) since June last year, with the first case dismissed as early as 2021.

However, the DOJ panel of prosecutors sought to reverse the ruling of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204, which acquitted De Lima and co-accused Ronnie Dayan in the second charge in May 2023, marking its second attempt to send her back to jail. 

"I don't understand what the prosecution is trying to do! Put me in triple jeopardy after nearly seven years in unjust detention? This is no longer funny, it's infuriating,” De Lima lamented on late Tuesday. 

The RTC’s decision cited the recantation of former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos — the prosecution’s key witness — as grounds to dismiss the charges.

Ragos had earlier testified against De Lima, accusing her of receiving P10 million in illegal drug proceeds from the NBP when she was still the Justice chief from 2010 to 2015 under the administration of the late president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. 

He claimed that he personally delivered the money to De Lima, allegedly intended to fund her 2016 senatorial campaign. He, however, retracted his testimony in 2022, claiming he was forced by Duterte’s Justice secretary, Vitaliano Aguirre II, to pin down De Lima in the illegal drug trade.

In a motion for reconsideration filed on 14 July, DOJ prosecutors argued that the court erred in giving credence to Ragos’ recantation and that it had fallen short in justifying why it should outweigh his initial testimony implicating De Lima in the illegal drug trade.

“Witness Ragos presented no proof of the alleged coercion and did nothing about it. As such, his bare allegation should not be allowed to trample upon and make a mockery of the administration of justice by this Honorable Court,” the motion read.

“By accepting the subsequent recantation of witness Ragos hook, line and sinker, the Honorable Court repudiated all these solemn proceedings, without consideration on how the courts and other bodies conducted the proceedings to ensure the voluntariness and veracity of the statements/allegations made by [Ragos],” it added. 

Furthermore, the prosecutors stated that the Muntinlupa court failed to comply with the Court of Appeals’ order to discuss the specifics and laws upon which the pronouncement of acquittal was based.

In late May, barely two weeks after De Lima won a House seat in the 12 May polls, the appellate court nullified the RTC’s ruling and remanded the case for proper evaluation. 

The CA demanded an explanation from the RTC why it had solely relied on Ragos’ recantation, but failed to detail which parts of his testimony were withdrawn. It also ordered the Muntilupa court to narrate in detail which particular element of the crime charged was not proven.

But RTC Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara, in response, affirmed the initial decision “clear and unequivocal.” He argued that Ragos’ recantation created reasonable doubt that significantly undermined the prosecution’s case, and the link needed to prove conspiracy between De Lima and Dayan.

De Lima’s lawyer, Dino de Leon, posits that the DOJ’s attempt to revive the case “doesn’t make legal sense,” pointing to procedural rules that prohibit an appeal to a not guilty verdict. 

He pointed out that when the RTC affirmed its ruling after the CA nullified it, it acquitted De Lima, not once, but twice, of the criminal charges. 

“This is a never-ending cycle of persecution, never-ending cycle of filing of bogus charges…This is, in fact, in pursuit of the most expensive frame-up in Philippine history,” he said in an interview. 

Then-senator De Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte’s drug war policy, was arrested in February 2017, just months after launching a Senate probe into the Davao Death Squad allegedly linked to the former president. 

She has long maintained innocence and claimed that the charges against her were politically motivated, aimed at silencing her, and served as a warning to anyone who dared to criticize Duterte.

Meanwhile, former lawmakers France Castro (ACT Teachers) and Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna) said De Lima’s case exemplifies how the Duterte administration systematically targeted critics through fabricated charges. 

Castro and Ocampo, both convicted in June last year by the Tagum Regional Trial Court for allegedly abducting 14 Lumad minors in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, in November 2018, believe that they were also victims of trumped-up charges by being fierce critics of the Duterte administration.