FACT CHECK: No court ruling ordering De Lima back to prison

Claim: The Supreme Court has ordered House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Representative Leila de Lima to return to jail.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video containing the claim has 6,400 views, 472 likes, and 50 comments as of writing. It was uploaded on a channel claiming to be a news outlet, which has 170,000 subscribers.

The video’s title states: “Nakarma na! De Lima wala ng takas! Balik himas rehas na? Korte Suprema, matinding utos pirmado na! 

(It’s over now! De Lima has nowhere to escape! Is she going back to jail? A strong order from the Supreme Court has been signed!)

In the video, the narrator claims that De Lima is criticizing Vice President Sara Duterte due to personal resentment toward her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and suggests that this is the reason behind the supposed court order sending De Lima back to jail.

The facts: There is no Supreme Court decision directing De Lima’s arrest or return to prison. 

The misleading video falsely suggests in its title that the High Tribunal had issued an order against De Lima. What the video actually discusses was De Lima’s criticism of Duterte running to the Supreme Court to block her latest impeachment case, the same strategy back in 2025 when the Vice President was impeached by the House of Representatives.

De Lima’s detention: De Lima is one of the most vocal critics of former president Duterte after she led Senate investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings linked to his bloody war on drugs.

In February 2017, she was arrested by the Philippine National Police on allegations that she was involved in the illegal drug trade, based mainly on testimonies that were later recanted. 

She was detained for almost seven years, facing three drug cases which human rights groups called politically motivated. By 2024, all cases were dismissed, clearing her of the charges.

In 2025, a Court of Appeals (CA) division issued a ruling nullifying the 2023 decision of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) that had cleared De Lima in one of her drug cases. However, the CA ruling did not overturn De Lima’s acquittal and did not order her return to detention. (READ: EXPLAINER: De Lima won’t be detained again after Court of Appeals decision)

The CA instead remanded the case back to the trial court for clarification and for the judge to rewrite the decision. 

Sara’s impeachment: In February 2026, De Lima endorsed a third impeachment complaint filed by clergy members against Vice President Duterte. Her endorsement followed an earlier backing of a similar impeachment complaint filed by religious leaders and civil society groups. – Marjuice Destinado/Rappler.com

Marjuice Destinado is a senior political science student at Cebu Normal University (CNU) and an alumna of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship of Rappler for 2025.

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