MANILA — In a significant turn of events, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has withdrawn its bid to overturn the Muntinlupa court ruling that upheld the acquittal of former senator and current Mamamayang Liberal Representative Leila de Lima and her former aide Ronnie Dayan in a high-profile drug case.
The decision came upon the instruction of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, according to Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon.
“Comes now, the Prosecution, through the undersigned panel of Public Prosecutors and unto the Honorable Court, after consultation and upon the instructions of the Honorable Prosecutor General, most respectfully moves for the withdrawal of the Motion for Reconsideration,” the DOJ stated in its five-page motion dated July 23.
De Lima and Dayan were previously acquitted by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 in May 2023 after the court ruled that Dayan’s retraction of his earlier testimony raised reasonable doubt over their alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.
However, in May 2024, the Court of Appeals nullified the acquittal and remanded the case to the RTC. The lower court reaffirmed its decision in June, prompting state prosecutors to seek reconsideration—a move now officially retracted.
In their earlier motion for reconsideration, prosecutors questioned the revised decision issued by Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara on June 27, which stated that the recantation of former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos was a “sufficient basis for the RTC to uphold the constitutionally guaranteed presumption of innocence.”
Ragos had previously testified that he and aide Jovencio Ablen Jr. delivered P10 million in drug money to De Lima at her Parañaque residence in 2012. But in 2022, he retracted the testimony, citing coercion.
Prosecutors argued that “the Honorable Court failed to disprove the voluntariness and veracity, nay, even consider, the earlier testimony given by witness Ragos in open court and in other venues, including the surrounding circumstances thereof, which the prosecution duly established by sufficient evidence.’’
“Simply put, there was no comparison made between the original statement of witness Ragos and his retracted statement, and [no] explanation why the latter should be believed,” they added.
They maintained that Ragos’ initial statement was “corroborated on all material points by the other witnesses,” especially regarding two alleged deliveries of P5 million each to De Lima and Dayan.
They further cited the “corroborative and uncontroverted testimony of Ablen,” as well as accounts from inmates of the New Bilibid Prison who supposedly contributed to De Lima’s Senate campaign, and the testimony of Reynaldo Esmeralda, to whom Ablen had allegedly confided about the cash deliveries.
“To set aside a testimony [that] was solemnly taken before a court of justice in an open and free trial and under conditions precisely sought to discourage and forestall falsehood simply because one of the witnesses who had given testimony later on changed his mind would simply make a mockery of our criminal justice system,” the prosecutors argued.
With the withdrawal, De Lima’s acquittal on her third and final drug case now stands uncontested by the DOJ./PN
