THE Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court has affirmed the acquittal of former senator Leila de Lima in the third and last drug-related case filed by the Duterte administration in 2017.
Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 Presiding Judge Gener Gito dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by government prosecutors last August 7, 2024.
Gito earlier this year acquitted De Lima, saying that the testimonies of witnesses presented by the prosecution were not enough to prove the allegations linking the former senator to the illegal drugs trade inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa when she was still the secretary of the Department of Justice.
In his four-page order, Gito said the prosecution failed to present any evidence or new arguments that would warrant the reversal of his order dismissing the case against De Lima and setting her free after almost seven years in detention.
He noted that the petition “only says that the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable.”
“The prosecution, in its Motion for Reconsideration, did not even ascribe grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Court. It did not cite any instance in the Court’s Order that in having such kind of conclusion, the Court encroached into the area of grave abuse of discretion,” it pointed out.
“Having failed to cite any instance of grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Court, which is the only thoroughfare to vacating a judgment of acquittal, there is therefore no reason for this Court to reconsider its order dated July 19, 2024. Wherefore, premises considered, the Motion for Reconsideration is denied,” Gito ruled.
In granting the demurrer to evidence filed by the De Lima camp, Gito in July cited the “failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of all the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”
Gito is the same judge that granted De Lima’s bail application in 2023 and set her free from almost seven years in detention.
De Lima was slapped with three drug-related cases during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte. All cases have been dismissed.
The former senator won the case before Muntinulupa RTC Branch 205 through a demurrer to evidence in February 2021. She won another case before the Muntinlupa Branch 204 due to lack of merit in May last year.
