Opposition Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday said she would now focus on the dismissal of the “fabricated” drug cases against her.
De Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, failed to win a reelection during the recent May 2022 senatorial elections.
“I will now have to focus on the dismissal of the fabricated drug cases against me so I can finally be released,” de Lima said in a statement.
“It may have taken years of injustice and persecution, but truth and justice will always prevail. It has no timeline,” she added.
De Lima has been detained since Feb. 24, 2017 for an illegal drug charges which she and her camp reiterated is based mostly on false testimonies of convicted felons.
Earlier, three witnesses in her drug case namely, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and her former aide and co-accused Ronnie Dayan recanted their respective testimonies that she was involved in the illegal drug trade.
With these developments, Rolly Francis Peoro, one of De Lima’s lawyers, said they are hopeful that the Court will reverse the earlier denial of their Demurrer to Evidence or would grant their new motion to dismiss the case against the Senator, or at the very least grant her bail.