MANILA — Government prosecutors have asked a Muntinlupa City court to reverse its decision upholding the acquittal of Mamamayang Liberal’s Cong. Leila de Lima and her former aide Ronnie Dayan, arguing that the lower court failed to properly weigh the original testimony of a key witness before accepting his recantation.
In a motion for reconsideration filed before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204, the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel insisted that de Lima and Dayan should be convicted of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. The prosecutors claimed the court did not follow a Court of Appeals directive to thoroughly revisit the evidence.
The motion assailed the June 27 ruling of Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara, who upheld de Lima’s acquittal based on former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos’ retraction of his 2012 testimony.
Ragos had earlier claimed he and his aide, Jovencio Ablen Jr., delivered ₱10 million in drug money to De Lima when she was justice secretary, but he withdrew that statement in 2022.
“However, 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,” the DOJ prosecutors stated.
“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.
The prosecution maintained that Ragos’ original testimony was “corroborated on all material points by the other witnesses,” particularly regarding the two alleged ₱5-million deliveries to de Lima and Dayan. They also cited the testimony of Ablen, whom they said remained uncontroverted, and the statements of several inmates who allegedly contributed to de Lima’s 2016 Senate campaign.
They further pointed to a testimony by former justice undersecretary Reynaldo Esmeralda, who claimed Ablen recounted the money delivery incident to him.
“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 stressed.
Reacting to the DOJ’s move, de Lima denounced the renewed legal challenge.
“I don’t understand what the prosecution is trying to do! Put me in triple jeopardy after nearly seven years in unjust detention? Hindi na lang katawa-tawa ang ginagawa nila, nakakagalit na,” she said.
Her lawyer, Atty. Boni Tacardon, also slammed the motion, saying it was “apparently without the conformity of both the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Office of the Solicitor General.”
“We see this as a clear case of prosecutorial misconduct and violative of the constitutional right of Representative de Lima against double jeopardy. We are currently studying the possibility of filing charges against the panel members,” Tacardon said./PN
