De Lima seeks charges vs prosecutors in dismissed drug case
MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal Partylist) has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to initiate appropriate administrative proceedings against the prosecutors who attempted to revive her dismissed drug charges.
De Lima filed a letter-complaint with the DOJ on Thursday, August 14, through her lawyer Dino De Leon, requesting Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to hold the prosecutors accountable for what she described as a “politically motivated persecution” against her.
“As then sitting Senator and later as a private citizen, I became the target of fabricated and politically motivated cases and have suffered through the shameless weaponization of the legal system,” De Lima’s letter-complaint read.
“The cases against me were not built on evidence, but on coercion and lies, orchestrated within the Department of Justice itself during the time of President Rodrigo Duterte,” it added.
The complaint seeks to hold prosecutors accountable for grave misconduct and gross ignorance of the law. Those named in the letter-complaint include Provincial Prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo and nine other prosecutors involved in De Lima’s dismissed drug case.
In an interview with reporters, De Leon said they also plan to file cases against other individuals involved in De Lima’s prosecution, including former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.
“We’re considering all options,” De Leon said.
“What they’ve done is the most atrocious acts that we can do as lawyers,” he added.
Philstar.com has reached out to Ocampo for a comment on the matter, but he has yet to reply.
The complaint stemmed from the prosecution of the drug charges against De Lima, which she said the prosecutors “willfully proceeded” despite fabricated testimonies.
She added that the prosecutors "turned a blind eye" to the lack of material evidence and the questionable nature of their witness, even after the witness, the late former Bureau of Corrections Chief Rafael Ragos, admitted that his testimony was "pure fabrication."
“This constitutes grave misconduct. Their relentless pursuit of my conviction, even after Mr. Ragos and other key witnesses recanted and exposed the pressure they were under, demonstrates a flagrant disregard for their duty to seek truth and justice,” De Lima said.
“They allowed themselves to become instruments of persecution, not prosecution,” she added.
It may be recalled that on July 14, the prosecutors filed a motion for reconsideration on one of De Lima’s drug charges after the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 affirmed her acquittal.
The Department of Justice subsequently ordered the motion withdrawn on July 23.
De Lima faced three drug charges filed in different Muntinlupa courts, which led to her detention for nearly seven years. She was released in November 2023 after the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 granted her petition for bail.
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