De Lima files letter-complaint vs. prosecutors for misconduct, ignorance of law

Mamamayang Liberal Representative Leila de Lima has filed a letter-complaint against several prosecutors for grave misconduct and gross ignorance of the law over their appeal on the affirmation of her acquittal in a drug-related case.

Atty. Dino De Leon, De Lima's legal counsel and spokesperson, filed the letter-complaint at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila.

The lawmaker requested Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to investigate provincial prosecutor Ramon Bienvenido Ocampo and nine others.

De Lima highlighted that the prosecutors proceeded with her drug case even after former Bureau of Corrections Officer-in-Charge Rafael Ragos recanted his testimony as well as the motion for reconsideration that they filed on her acquittal.

“The prosecutors who lent their authority to this travesty must not be allowed to continue wielding the powers of the State with impunity. Their actions were not a simple mistake; they were a tyrannical exercise of power that cost me years of my life and eroded the foundations of our justice system,” she said.

“I humbly urge you to initiate the appropriate administrative proceedings to hold them accountable for their actions. I am fully prepared to cooperate in any action necessary to make that possible,” she added.

GMA News Online has asked Ocampo for comment and will publish his response once available.

De Lima was detained in Camp Crame for nearly seven years starting February 2017 over allegations of drug trade. 

In May 2023, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 acquitted her and Ronnie Dayan, her co-accused and former bodyguard, of an illegal drug trading charge on the grounds of reasonable doubt. 

In May this year, however, the Court of Appeals declared null and void the decision of the court and remanded the case back. 

The RTC affirmed its decision to acquit De Lima and Dayan in June, prompting prosecutors to file the motion for reconsideration in July.

De Lima said this was barred by the prohibition against double jeopardy, stressing that a judgment of acquittal is final and immediately executory.

“This is a fundamental principle that every lawyer should know, let alone a government prosecutor,” she said.

For their part, in July, Remulla directed the prosecutors to withdraw their motion, an action that De Lima said only highlighted the panel’s “rogue and abusive conduct.”

“Their persistence was not a simple error in judgment; it was a malicious attempt to prolong my ordeal and subvert the rule of law,” she said.

Her first acquittal came in February 2021 when the Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 205 junked one of her three cases.

Meanwhile, the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 granted her demurrer to evidence, effectively dismissing her third and final drug case in June 2024. —VAL, GMA Integrated News