FACT CHECK: Leila de Lima not returning to prison

Claim: Mamamayang Liberal (ML) party-list first nominee and former Senator Leila de Lima will be imprisoned again after the Court of Appeals voided her acquittal in one drug case.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video bearing the claim has gained 50,770 views, 450 comments, and 5,900 likes, as of writing. It was posted on May 15, three days after the midterm elections.

The video’s thumbnail features the text, “Natakot kay Leila kaya ikukulong uli?!” (Scared of Leila, so they’ll jail her again?!), along with photos of former senator Leila de Lima and Vice President Sara Duterte.

The facts: The Court of Appeals’ recent decision does not mean De Lima will return to prison, nor does it overturn her acquittal.

Instead, the Court of Appeals found the lower court’s 2023 ruling insufficiently clear and sent it back to be rewritten, not reversed.

Her lawyers added that while the CA’s decision can still be challenged before the Supreme Court, the acquittal itself cannot be appealed or undone.

Detained: De Lima languished in jail for nearly seven years, over trumped-up charges during the administration of then-president Rodrigo Duterte. All of De Lima’s cases have been dismissed by the different branches of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial. 

As a senator, De Lima investigated Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. She also probed into Duterte’s Davao Death Squad. 

With the victory of her party-list Mamayang Liberal in the recent elections, De Lima is set to join the 20th Congress. She will also be part of the House prosecution team in the impending impeachment trial of the elder Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. – MJ Catequista/Rappler.com

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