Philippine Prosecutors Surprisingly Move to Reopen Leila de Lima Case

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte may have left office a year ago, but one of his most enduring and controversial legacies refuses to die.

In February 2017, former Senator Leila de Lima, a human rights advocate and vocal critic of Duterte’s deadly drug war, was arrested on charges linked to an alleged prison drug trafficking scandal. Domestic and international rights groups immediately slammed the arrest as politically motivated.

De Lima has been detained at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Quezon City ever since, even though the cases brought against her have collapsed after witnesses recanted their testimony, claiming they had been pressured into testifying.

When current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took power in 2022, he made repeated yet vague promises to address the country’s human rights record. In February, the European Parliament said the human rights situation had improved under Marcos, and member Hannah Neumann credited the Marcos administration with being “more open to discussing human rights” than members of the Duterte administration.

De Lima also expressed optimism in February, six years after her arrest. “I will soldier on,” she said at the time, adding that “my vindication is at hand.”

Her attorneys were hopeful that de Lima’s remaining two cases would soon be submitted for decision, after which the former senator could have received bail, or the charges could have been dropped completely.

However, in a surprise move, the Department of Justice on April 18 asked a court in Muntinlupa City to reopen one of de Lima’s cases in order to present a last-minute witness, while also adding other “rebuttal evidence” in the case against her.

“We don’t know what happened with the prosecution,” defense lawyer Filibon Tacardon told the Philippine Inquirer. “They made the sudden turnaround and are now claiming that they want to submit rebuttal evidence.”

Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin Remulla said the prosecution wants to submit additional evidence connected to the testimony of Rafael Ragos, the former Bureau of Corrections deputy director. Prosecutors allege de Lima received bribe money from drug lords and extorted it from New Bilibid Prison through Ragos, along with a former aide, to fund her 2016 Senate bid.

Ragos, however, recanted his testimony last year, saying he was coerced into signing affidavits in 2016 and 2017. “I am really sorry,” Ragos said, accusing former Secretary of Justice Vitaliano Aguirre of pressuring him into signing the affidavits. “I got really scared.”

Aguirre denied the allegations, calling Ragos a “liar” and showing a video of Ragos signing one of the affidavits.

De Lima and her attorneys had believed her trial was over. Just days earlier, the prosecution and defense had agreed that the case would be decided on May 12.

Now, prosecutors have introduced another hurdle for de Lima to clear before seeking bail or having her charges dropped.

Remulla, the justice secretary, has said the government would allow de Lima to receive bail on humanitarian grounds – but not if she continues to seek bail based on the lack of evidence against her. In effect, the ministry is blocking de Lima from asserting her innocence.

The move has come under fresh criticism from de Lima’s supporters in the Philippines, who had hoped her long legal saga was finally about to come to an end.

Remulla is “being inhuman” in tying de Lima’s bail to humanitarian grounds, Manila Times columnist Tita C. Valderama wrote on April 24. “Has he found that the cases against de Lima are weak, that’s why he was afraid that the court would set her free for lack of evidence? That, for sure, is not showing humanitarian reasons to allow her temporary freedom.”

Many international observers are treating the release of de Lima as a benchmark for human rights conditions in the Philippines under Marcos. In October 2022, the Philippines allowed a high-level U.S. congressional delegation led by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey to visit de Lima, after originally denying their request.

But her continued detention gives fuel to critics who say that human rights under Marcos have actually failed to improve much, if at all.

In March, the Marcos administration decided not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, which is investigating rights violations and crimes linked to Duterte’s drug war. Duterte had pulled the Philippines from the ICC in protest, although the ICC has vowed to continue its probe.

The extrajudicial killings of alleged drug offenders, along with progressive leaders and political critics, have also continued under Marcos – who has frequently defended the military rule of his father, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos Sr. violated the human rights of thousands of Filipinos before fleeing to the United States, where he died in exile.