Detained Senator Leila de Lima said she is hoping more people will come out and tell the truth to prove her innocence in the drug charges that she is facing.

De Lima has been in detention for more than five years since February 2017 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed three cases against her for illegal drug trading which the prosecution later changed to conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.

One of the three cases was dismissed by a Muntinlupa court in February last year while two are pending.

“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,” said De Lima.

She added, “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 (Like what I have been saying: They have succeeded in jailing me but they cannot lock up the fact that I am innocent. The truth and justice will always come out and prevail).”

“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,” the senator said.

She made the statement after prisoner Marcelo Adorco, a government witness in the case against Kerwin Espinosa, recanted all his statements including in which he denied personally knowing De Lima and said he had no personal knowledge about the alleged meeting between the senator and Espinosa in Baguio City.

Adorco’s recantation is included in his Aug. 28, 2020 counter-affidavit which he cited in another counter-affidavit submitted to the DOJ on May 24.

“Hindi ko po kilala sina Lovely Impal, Peter Co, Peter Lim at Secretary Leila De Lima. Hindi ko po sila nakita at nakausap kahit minsan. (I don’t know Lovely Impal, Peter Co, Peter Lim and Secretary Leila De Lima. I have not seen them and talked to them even once),” Adorco said in his August 2020 counter-affidavit.

He added, “‘Yong picture po ni Kerwin Espinosa at ni Hazel Mago kasama si Secretary Leila De Lima ay nakuha po ‘yon galing sa Facebook at ibinigay lamang sa akin ng isang pulis noong ginawa ang aking affidavit. Wala po akong personal na kaalaman tungkol sa sinasabing pagkikita raw ni Kerwin at ni Secretary De Lima sa Baguio City (I got the photo of Kerwin Espinosa and Hazel Mago together with Secretary Leila De Lima from Facebook and was only given to me by a police officer when I made my affidavit. I have no personal knowledge about the alleged meeting of Kerwin and Secretary De Lima in Baguio City).”

Espinosa alleged in Senate hearings that De Lima was involved in illegal drug when she was the justice secretary under the Aquino administration, which she vehemently denied.

But in a counter-affidavit he submitted to the DOJ on April 28, Espinosa recanted his previous allegations and said he had no dealings with De Lima.

During a hearing in one of De Lima’s drug cases in Muntinlupa, prosecution witness and prisoner Joel Capones said on cross examination that he did not know Delima and he had no transaction with De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, the senator’s co-accused.

Besides Adorco and Espinosa, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and Dayan, the senator’s former aide, also recanted their allegations against her, claiming they were coerced.

Filibon Tacardon, one of De Lima’s legal counsels, said Adorco’s recantation only highlighted the pattern of witnesses admitting to being threatened and coerced to tell lies and pin people down, including the senator.

“Sa tingin namin, sumasalamin ito sa matagal na naming sinasabi na ang mga kaso laban kay Senator De Lima ay pawang gawa-gawa lamang ng mga taong tinakot at ginipit para gumawa ng kasinungalingan at palabasin na si Senator De Lima ay sangkot sa bentahan ng ilegal na droga,” Tacardon said. (We see that this mirrors what we have been saying that the cases against Sen. De Lima are mere concoctions of people who were intimidated and pressured to make lies and to show that Sen. De Lima is involved in the trade of illegal drugs),” he said.

Tacardon called on the DOJ to review the cases of De Lima.