Prosecutors’ ‘rogue’ acts in de Lima case hit

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights lawyer and former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te criticized a group of government prosecutors for twice seeking to overturn the acquittal of former Sen. Leila de Lima in one of her three drug cases, suggesting that they should be sanctioned for their “rogue” moves.

“There must be consequences for this rogue behavior, which both the [Secretary of Justice] and the [Prosecutor General] have already implicitly acknowledged as ‘rogue’ by their direction to withdraw the offensive ‘motion for reconsideration,’” Te said in a statement on Thursday.

Te was referring to the latest of the two motions filed by the prosecution panel led by Provincial Prosecutor Ramoncito Bienvenido Ocampo Jr. after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Muntinlupa City acquitted De Lima in 2023.

The concerned prosecutors should be subjected to at least “a re-tooling, a re-training, or even back to school, or constitutional law 1 and 2,” Te said, citing the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement to establish its own academy and its human rights training.

De Lima, now a member of the House of Representatives as a Mamayang Liberal Party list representative, was jailed in 2017 on three drug trafficking cases, which she said were trumped-up charges instigated by then-President Rodrigo Duterte in retaliation for her inquiry into his bloody drug war. She has since been completely absolved.

Voided acquittal

After the Muntinlupa RTC acquitted De Lima in one of the three cases on May 12, 2023, on grounds of “reasonable doubt” after a key witness had recanted, Ocampo and the nine others who comprised the panel of prosecutors filed a motion for reconsideration. This was denied by the court on July 6, 2023.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) later filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals (CA) to nullify De Lima’s acquittal. This was granted in April this year by the CA, which voided her acquittal and remanded the case back to the RTC.

The CA said the RTC failed to “clearly and distinctly state the facts and legal basis” for clearing her and her coaccused, her former aide Ronnie Dayan. The court, however, did not rule that she was guilty.

On June 27, 2025, the RTC submitted to the CA a lengthy discussion of its clarification that upheld its decision to acquit De Lima and Dayan.

Despite this, the prosecution panel on July 14 filed its second motion for reconsideration with the RTC, saying its “revised” ruling still did not “substantially comply” with the CA’s decision on De Lima’s acquittal.

They noted in particular that the RTC decision “failed to show how the recantation” of former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos “affected, if at all, the existence of the elements of the crime charged.”

‘Foolish’

But Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon stepped in, ordering the prosecutors to withdraw their motion.

Fadullon said the motion “should not have been filed in the first place.”

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla called the move by the prosecution panel “foolish” and politically motivated.

The public prosecutors, “after consultation and upon instructions of the Honorable Prosecutor General, most respectfully move for the withdrawal of the motion for reconsideration dated 14 July 2025,” read the prosecution panel’s July 23 “motion to withdraw.”

Te, a criminal law expert, said the filing should not have been a motion but simply a “withdrawal,” which a trial court could just note.

‘A brat told to behave’

“A ‘withdrawal’ would rightly delegitimize the public prosecutor’s rogue ‘motion for reconsideration’ of an acquittal, which is on its face in gross violation of the prohibition against double jeopardy,” he said.

Te particularly criticized the one-sentence first paragraph, which he said was “petulant, resentful, and unapologetic,” and “certainly disrespectful” to the accused, the court and the public.

“There is no manifest intent to follow the Constitution, neither is there a remorseful concession that the action was ill-advised in the first place; instead, what it sounds like is a brat told to behave, or else,” he added.

Fadullon declined to say what actions would be taken against the prosecutors. “Let’s take things one step at a time,” he told reporters.

In a statement following Remulla’s remarks, De Lima called on the DOJ to investigate and sanction the prosecutors involved.

“Remulla and Fadullon should deal with these remnants of the Duterte administration whose loyalty lies not with the DOJ, but with Duterte,” said De Lima, herself a former justice secretary.

In addition to Ocampo, the others who signed the motion for reconsideration were City Prosecutors Blas Antonio Tuliao and Laurence Joel Taliping; Deputy City Prosecutors Leilia Llanes, Evangeline Viudez-Canobas, and Darwin Cañete; Senior Assistant City Prosecutors Rudy Ricamora Jr., John Quincy Carandang, and Alfred Joseph T. Jamora; and Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Wendell Bendoval.

The appellate court has not yet ruled on the trial court’s submission, and it has not disclosed whether it had asked the OSG to comment on it.

(2025/07/25-05:30)

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