Detained reelectionist Senator Leila de Lima said the retraction of Rafael Ragos, former officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), is five years too late but “I am glad that he did.”
Ragos, a key witness and former co-accused in a drug case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against De Lima, has recanted all his testimonies and statements against the lawmaker.
Detained reelectionist Senator Leila de Lima said the retraction of Rafael Ragos, former officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), is five years too late but “I am glad that he did.”
Ragos, a key witness and former co-accused in a drug case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against De Lima, has recanted all his testimonies and statements against the lawmaker.
“All of my allegations to the contrary in my affidavits and House and court testimonies are all fiction, false, and fabricated,” he said in an affidavit dated April 30.
He previously stated in an affidavit that he, accompanied by Jovencio Ablen of the National Bureau of Investigation, delivered P10 million to De Lima’s house in Parañaque: P5 million on Nov. 24, 2012 and another P5 million on Dec. 15, 2012.
“I did not expect, at least at this stage, former NBI Deputy Director and BuCor OIC Rafael Ragos to retract his statements and testimonies implicating me in the Bilibid drug trade. After all, he played along with my persecutors in the Duterte Administration for so long I no longer hoped that he still had any remaining ounce of integrity in himself,” said De Lima in dispatch from Camp Crame.
She said, “In fact, it was his testimony in court that was used by the judge to deny my demurrer or motion to dismiss in one of the fabricated drug cases filed against me by the DOJ. His fabricated testimony, which he is now retracting, is the main, if not the sole, reason why that case was not dismissed and why I am still detained as the trial continues.”
In his affidavit dated April 30, Ragos stated, “In an affidavit dated March, 2017, I stated that the money I delivered to Ronnie Dayan and Sec. De Lima on November 24, 2012 and December 2012 both amounted to five million pesos (P5,000,000.00) each and that the person who called me on the phone was Bilibid inmate Hans Tan who said that the money came from Peter Co and was Sec. De Lima's share in the drug trade.”
“I now hereby declare and make known to the whole world that there is no truth whatsoever to any of these affidavits or House and court testimonies, or any other statement made in the media or other investigatory proceedings, including the Senate and the DOJ, on the delivery of monies to Sec. De Lima or Ronnie Dayan in whatever amount,” said Ragos.
He added, “There was never any money delivered to my quarters. Even if there was, I would have immediately conducted an investigation and filed a case against the responsible individuals, instead of following the instructions of an unknown caller or Hans Tan to deliver a package like an ordinary messenger.”
“As far as I know and based on my professional relationship with Sec. De Lima, she is incapable of doing anything illegal, much less engage in the illegal drug trade or accept money from Bilibid inmates,” he said.
According to Ragos, “I was forced to execute the above affidavits and deliver the above House and court testimonies against Sec. De Lima andRonnie Dayan due to threats of being detained myself for the crime of engaging in the illegal drug trade that I did not commit.”
He revealed that in September 2016, a week before the House of Representatives held a hearing on illegal drugs in the New Bilibid Prison, he was ordered by former DOJ secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, thru Danny Yang, to attend a meeting at Solaire Resort and Casino in Paranaque.
“During said meeting, then Sec. Aguirre interrogated and coerced me to admit something that did not happen. He escorted me to another room where Ablen was, and they showed me a copy of a statement. I asked them: ‘Ano 'yan?'' Ablen responded: ‘Ginawa namin ni Esmeralda yan, may kopya sya n'yan,’” he said.
He added, “When I asked Sec. Aguirre what they want me to do, he said: ‘Mag-execute ka ng affidavit, mag-corroborate ka sa statement ni Ablen, kung hindi, alam mo mangyayari.’ Salvador drafted the Affidavit implicating Senator De Lima in illegal transactions during her stint as then Justice Secretary.”
On Feb. 17, 2017, the DOJ filed three cases of illegal drug trading with Muntinlupa courts. Case 17-165 charged that from November 2012 to March 2013, De Lima and Ragos conspired with Dayan to demand and extort money from high-profile inmates at the NBP to support De Lima’s senatorial bid.
It stated that inmates, using cell phones and electronic devices, traded illegal drugs and gave the proceeds to De Lima through Ragos and Dayan in the amounts of P5 million on Nov. 24, 2012, P5 million on Dec. 15, 2012 and P100,000 in weekly tara from the inmates.
One week after the cases were filed in courts, Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 issued arrest warrants on Feb. 23, 2017 against De Lima, Ragos and Dayan. She surrendered to authorities on Feb. 24, 2017.
The DOJ changed the charges from illegal drug trading to conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading in 2017.
In case 17-165, the DOJ removed Ragos as accused in the amended information and became one of the prosecution’s witnesses.
“In order to be dropped from the Information in Criminal Case No. 17-165 as a co-accused of Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, I was forced to cooperate with Sec. Aguirre and the DOJ public prosecutors by agreeing to deliver all these false testimonies and sign false affidavits against Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan. I was thus made a witness against Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan and set free,” Ragos said in his new affidavit.
Ragos said he executed “this affidavit freely, voluntarily, truthfully, and without any mental reservation whatsoever, in order to absolve Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, who are completely innocent, from entirely false and absolutely fabricated criminal charges.”
“I beg the forgiveness of these innocent persons who suffered from my transgression of bearing false witness against them. Ihope they find it in their heart to do so, knowing that I was only forced to transgress against them to save my own life. May God help me,” he said.
Before Ragos, Kerwin Espinosa also recanted his statements and cleared De Lima, saying he had no dealings with her and “has not given her any money at any given time.”
“With Kerwin Espinosa’s and Ragos’s retractions, I hope that it is now clear to the Filipino people that the false charges for illegal drug trading filed against me by the DOJ were the product of a long-standing conspiracy that started all the way back in September 2016 in the House of Representatives and the Senate, involving high government officials from the legislative and executive branches. At least, for the part of Ragos, the names of those conspirators are now known,” said De Lima.
The senator added, “It is only a matter of time before the rest are identified by other false witnesses, mostly convicted inmates of the Bilibid, who were either bribed or coerced to make up stories about my supposed involvement in the Bilibid drug trade. This is only expected as the mastermind of this despicable enterprise exits Malacanang at the end of his calamitous term.”
“It appears, after all, that justice will still be served, no matter how late. Five years too late. But indeed, Truth often bides its time. It patiently waits and is never vanquished,” she said.