Comelec: No reason to suspend de Lima proclamation

Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions during a press conference at Manila Hotel’s Tent City on Friday, May 16, 2025. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said there is no reason to suspend the proclamation of Mamamayang Liberal (ML) party-list first nominee Leila de Lima despite the appellate court’s overturning of her drug case acquittal.

READ: Court of Appeals overturns de Lima’s acquittal in a drug case

In a press conference at the Manila Hotel Tent City, Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said De Lima is not yet convicted with finality, which would bar her from holding elective office.

“We don’t see any reason to suspend the proclamation of the personality or the party-list you have mentioned because it is not a final conviction of the Court of Appeals,” Garcia said of the Court of Appeals (CA) decision on De Lima.

“It has no effect on the proclamation of the party-list and that personality,” he added.

In its ruling made public Thursday, CA’s 8th Division said the Muntinlupa Court’s decision failed to explain the specific facts as well as the laws on which the acquittal was based.

READ: Leila de Lima maintains CA decision not reversal of her acquittal

Garcia said the CA’s ruling on De Lima could still be appealed up to the Supreme Court.

“It is not right to suspend a winning party-list and its nominee because of that thing, a decision which is not yet final,” he added.

De Lima, meanwhile, maintained that the CA did not reverse her acquittal.

“I just want to clarify that the CA did not say that my acquittal was reversed, as it only wanted the writing of the decision to be fixed — which to our belief is that there is no need to do so because the RTC’s decision is clear,” she said. “We think this is just an issue of the CA asking for an explanation and clarification in the decision, regarding the questions pointed out by the appellate court.”

De Lima won as senator in 2016, but she was only imprisoned after eight months until her term lapsed in 2022.

She has always maintained her innocence in drug allegations and was detained for six years, eight months, and 21 days before being acquitted last June.

According to Comelec’s official tally released on Friday, ML party-list garnered 556,632 votes, making it eligible for at least one seat that De Lima will occupy./das/mcm