CA reverses lower court's acquittal of De Lima on drug charge

A Court of Appeals (CA) division has reversed a lower court's decision to acquit Congresswoman-elect Leila de Lima on one of her drug charges, but De Lima remains free from detention.

The CA Eighth Division granted the Office of the Solicitor General’s petition for certiorari, challenging Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara's 2023 acquittal based on grave abuse of discretion and remanded the case back to the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 due to a lack of substantive explanation.

De Lima maintains that her acquittal is still enforceable under double jeopardy protections until the Supreme Court affirms the CA's ruling, emphasizing that the CA did not reverse her acquittal but remanded it for further clarification on how the recantation of witness Rafael Ragos affected the prosecution’s case.

Despite this development, De Lima will remain free and plans to appeal the appellate court's decision to the Supreme Court, as the final and unappealable nature of her acquittal remains intact until a higher court rules otherwise.

De Lima is set to take her seat in Congress as an ML Representative after securing at least one seat for her party list in the 20th Congress, where she will join the House team prosecuting Vice President Sara Duterte.