De Lima drug case terminated

The drug case against former Sen. and now ML Partylist Representative Leila de Lima and her co-accused, Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, has been formally closed and terminated after government prosecutors withdrew their motion for reconsideration.

In a one-page order issued 30 September, Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara granted the prosecution’s motion to withdraw its plea for reconsideration, which had been filed on 14 July 2025.

The court noted that the panel of public prosecutors acted upon the instructions of the Prosecutor General.

The order stressed that an acquittal becomes final immediately upon its promulgation and cannot be appealed without violating the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, which prevents an accused person from being tried twice for the same offense.