De Lima says Colanggo’s exposé a desperate attempt to survive


The video rant of convicted murderer Herbert Colangco that is now making the rounds among the Duterte administration’s allies on social media sites is nothing but a desperate attempt to ensure his survival. 

Detained Senator Leila de Lima said this on Thursday, April 1, saying she was not surprised at all that Colangco made the video, noting that he released it right after the death of convicted Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was found dead last Saturday, March 27 inside his detention cell in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Senator Leila de Lima (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

De Lima said Colangco releasing the video “is his way of telling Duterte not to kill him yet because he still has a purpose to serve.”

“The talk among Bilibid inmates, as revealed by another Bilibid witness, Noel Martinez, in his testimony, is that some were the victims of ‘nacovid-covid,’ or the Bilibid term for being killed under the pretext of getting infected with the coronavirus and immediately cremated to dispose of any evidence of the actual cause of death,” De Lima said in her latest statement.

“Indeed, an incinerated cadaver will no longer leave traces of cyanide, or any other evidence of foul play,” she pointed out.

Colangco, in his 20-minute video, claimed De Lima’s supporters, who have retired from the active service, were desperately trying to silence him before the next scheduled hearings on the senator’s case are held.

According to the convicted crime leader, the lawmaker wanted him dead because of an expose that he concealed during the court hearings and congressional inquiries. Colangco had testified that De Lima received drug money for her senatorial bid.

However, De Lima dismissed Colangco’s claims, saying it was apparent that the convicted murderer was living in better quarters since he lied in his testimony against her before the House Justice Committee in 2016.

De Lima believes Colangco is now living in a more luxurious quarter “than his Bilibid kubol I ordered to be dismantled during the Bilibid raid of December 2014.”

“What is more evident is his cavalier demonstration of the perks he is enjoying now as a DOJ (Department of Justice) witness, including cellphones and apparently, access to the internet,” she said.

“These privileges are given to the killer of RCBC employees in exchange for his perjured testimony against me,” she emphasized. 

“What is most appalling is that Duterte is still more interested in this diabolical scheme against me rather than in solving the COVID crisis as we now approach another prolonged lockdown that will definitely and finally destroy what is left of our businesses and our economy,” she stressed.