The Court of Appeals (CA) Eighth Division has reversed the acquittal of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 that junked one drug case against ML Partylist Rep.-elect Leila de Lima.

The CA Eighth Division, headed by Associate Justice Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, granted the petition for certiorari of Solicitor General Menardo Gueverra based on a decision late April but released on Thursday.

The camp of De Lima, who with Akbayan Partylist Rep. Chel Diokno joined the House's panel in the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, has not issued a statement.

“The presence of grave abuse of discretion effectively nullifies the public respondent’s jurisdiction, thereby negating the second requisite of double jeopardy. To this, therefore, an acquittal rendered through a judgment marred by grave abuse of discretion cannot be considered an acquittal entitled to the protection against double jeopardy,” the decision said.

The acquittal of De Lima's drug case in 2023 was largely based by the Muntinlupa RTC on the retraction of statements by key witness, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Rafael Ragos who withdrew his testimony claiming he delivered drug money to De Lima.

The CA division said that Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 Presiding Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara failed to identify whether Ragos' retraction was credible or how such affected the evidence against De Lima.

De Lima was imprisoned in Camp Crame from February 2017 to June 2024 due to alleged involvement in illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was secretary of the Department of Justice.

The Muntinlupa court junked the third and last drug case against De Lima on June 24, 2025.

The CA division has remanded the case back to the lower court level. Yzabela Velez-White/DMS