Court of Appeals reverses De Lima’s acquittal in 1 drug case

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De Lima's acquittal in the reversed case remains enforceable – meaning she won't be detained for now – says her legal team

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A Court of Appeals (CA) division has reversed a trial court’s ruling that junked one drug case against former senator Leila de Lima.

CA Eighth Division has granted the Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) petition for certiorari assailing De Lima’s acquittal in the drug case involving former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Rafael Ragos in a decision dated April 30, but was made public on Thursday, May 15.

NEWS UPDATE: A Court of Appeals division reverses Leila de Lima's acquittal in one drug case.

The CA granted SolGen Guevarra's petition for certiorari in a decision made public on Thursday, May 15, reversing a lower court's acquittal in De Lima's drug case in 2023. pic.twitter.com/3Y371qlcpS

— Jairo Bolledo (@jairojourno) May 15, 2025

Certiorari is a type of legal remedy used to assail a decision, and in this case, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra’s office used it to challenge De Lima’s acquittal in a Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC).

In its decision, the CA division noted that Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 204 Presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara acquitted De Lima “on the sole basis” of Ragos’ recantation, who’s the witness in the drug case. Alcantara, in acquitting De Lima in 2023, said Ragos’ testimony was supposedly necessary to sustain any conviction and without it, “the crucial link to establish conspiracy is shrouded with reasonable doubt.”

“However, the public respondent failed to discuss the specific proven facts as well as the laws upon which his pronouncement of acquittal was based. It is flagrant in the assailed Decision and Order that the public respondent failed to: (1) state the particular statements which witness Ragos specifically retracted; (2) state in particular the effects of the retracted statements to the facts proven by the prosecution; and (3) state which particular element of the crime charged was not proven,” the decision penned by Associate Justice Eleuterio Bathan said.

Associate Justices Nina Antonio Valenzuela (division chairperson) and Florencio Mamauag Jr. had concurred in the decision.

In addition, the CA division said Alcantara failed to identify the statements retracted by Ragos, explaining that the absence of “detailed enumeration” of the statements made it difficult to discern how the lower court came to its decision to acquit De Lima.

“Without a concrete reference to the particular portions of the testimony that were recanted, We are left to speculate as to which facts were disregarded and the extent to which such retractions influenced the outcome of the case,” the division said.

The appellate court said that the judge, in his decision, also failed to detail the specific element of the crime charged that the prosecution had failed to establish against De Lima. Instead, the CA division said Alcantara “merely posited that the recantation of witness Ragos effectively discredited the claim of conspiracy.”

Meanwhile, the CA division also remanded the case back to the lower court level.

What happens now?

De Lima faced three drug cases filed under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s time. All of which had already been junked by Muntinlupa City courts, including the one assailed in the CA.

With this, De Lima is already free from detention since 2023, after nearly seven years under police custody. She recently ran as Mamamayang Liberal’s 1st nominee, and is poised to serve as lawmaker in the coming 20th Congress.

She will also join the House’s prosecution team for the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to the former senator’s legal defense team, De Lima’s acquittal in the reversed case remains enforceable – meaning she won’t be detained for now. They will also file a motion for reconsideration to ask the division reconsider its decision.

“Status is maintained, the final and unappealable nature of the acquittal, until the Supreme Court affirms the CA’s reversal [of the decision],” De Lima’s legal defense team told Rappler. “Because under the law, acquittal is final and unappealable because of double jeopardy. In contrast, a decision reversing an acquittal is not final and always appealable all the way to the Supreme Court.”

In May 2023, Alcantara cleared De Lima and former aide Ronnie Dayan in the drug charge, with the court noting that Ragos’ recantation was significant in the acquittal. Two months later, the court affirmed its decision to acquit De Lima after denying the motion for reconsideration filed by the prosecution.

Then in September 2023, Guevarra, Duterte’s former justice secretary, challenged the court’s decision before the CA by filing the certiorari petition. When asked what triggered OSG’s petition to file the petition, Guevarra said they arrived on the action “after extensive consultation with the DOJ (Department of Justice) panel of prosecutors and careful examination of the case records.” – Rappler.com