The camp of detained Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday, June 2 welcomed the recent recantation of another witness on the drug trade charges filed against her by the government.
Filibon “Boni” Tacardon, one of De Lima’s legal counsels said counter-affidavit of Marcelo Adorco highlighted the pattern of witnesses admitting to being threatened and coerced to tell lies against de Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration.
Tacardon said Adorco’s move to recant only shows that the cases against de Lima were merely fabricated.
“Lumalabas na ang totoo kaya patuloy ang panawagan namin sa DOJ na muling suriin ang mga kasong isinampa nila laban kay Senator De Lima at tuluyan nang ibasura ito at palayain ang mahal nating Senadora (The truth is now coming out that’s why we continue to call on the Department of Justice to once again review the cases filed against Sen. De Lima and free our beloved senator),” Tacardon said in a statement.
For her part, De Lima said she is hopeful that more people would come out and speak the truth to help prove her innocence from all the trumped-up drug charges filed against her.
“As Duterte, the mastermind behind my unjust detention, is about to step down from power, we’ve seen the pattern of personalities finally speaking the truth and finding it in their conscience to retract their allegations implicating me in the illegal drug trade,” de Lima said.
“Gaya ng lagi kong sinasabi: Naipakulong man nila ako, hinding-hindi nila maikukulong ang katotohanan na ako ay inosente. Lagi’t laging lalabas at mananaig ang katotohanan at hustisya (Just like what I said: Even though they put me behind bars, they cannot deny the truth that I am innocent. Truth and justice will always prevail),” de Lima added.
Aside from Adorco, other witnesses who recanted their testimony against de Lima were Kerwin Espinosa, a self-confessed drug trader and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and de Lima;s former aide Ronnie Dayan.
All claimed that they have been coerced and threatened by state agents and key government officials of the Duterte administration.
Also during the last hearing in one of the two drug cases against de Lima before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256, another prosecution witness, convicted murderer Joel Capones, on cross examination, also denied personally knowing and transacting with De Lima and Dayan.
De Lima has consistently denied the allegations against her and asserted her innocence in the cases filed against her before the courts.
Also in a statement, de Lima said it is high-time that Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido must now also come clean and tell the truth. She noted that Espenido, ex-Albuera police chief inspector who had been at the forefront of Duterte's war on drugs, ended up being on the President's narco-list.
"Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido must now also come clean and tell the truth. He knows that i have absolutely no links to self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and or any involvement in the illegal drug trade," she stated.