Former Senator Leila de Lima will file a supplemental motion for bail with a Muntinlupa court to seek her provisional liberty.
This was announced by his legal counsel, Boni Tacardon, on Feb. 10 after former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos finished his court testimony in one of the two remaining drug cases filed against De Lima.
De Lima attended a hearing at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204, which is handling case 17-165, which accused De Lima and Ronnie Dayan of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading during her time as justice secretary.
The case accused De Lima of getting P10 million in November and December 2012, which was allegedly delivered by Ragos to her house in Paranaque.
In an affidavit in April last year, Ragos, the key witness in the case, recanted all his statements against De Lima and Dayan, and said that he did not deliver the money to the former senator, which supposedly came from the proceeds of the drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa.
Tacardon said De Lima came out of the hearing happy because Ragos had already finished his testimony and he maintained that she is innocent of the charges. Ragos appeared several times in court last year.
“Ragos affirmed in his testimonies that all his accusations before against Senator Leila de Lima are pure lies and this was the result of what he said was the coercion and pressure on him by Secretary Aguirre,” said Tacardon.
According to Tacardon, Ragos also mentioned Public Attorney’s Office head Persida Acosta, NBI Director Dante Gierran, and other PAO lawyers.
He said Ragos told the court that he only made false accusations against De Lima for fear of his life and family, and his career.
Tacardon said because of Ragos’ recantation, they are preparing to file a supplementation motion for bail this month and ask the Muntinlupa court for De Lima’s provisional liberty.
He said when the court first denied De Lima’s petition for bail, the former judge who handled the case cited Ragos’ testimony as the basis.
“If the court believes , the defense team thinks there is no more evidence ,” said Tacardon.
Tacardon said if the court accepts Ragos’ recantation and grants bail to De Lima, their next step is to ask the court to dismiss the drug case.
In his affidavit last year, Ragos said, “All of my allegations in my affidavits and House and ·court testimonies are fiction, false, and fabricated.”
He added that he was “forced to execute the above affidavits and deliver the above House and court testimonies against Sec. Lima and Ronnie Dayan due to threats of being detained myself for the crime of engaging in the illegal drug trade (that) I did not commit.”
In September 2016, he said, before the House of Representatives conducted a hearing on the illegal drug trade in NBP, he “was ordered former Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre Ⅱ, thru Mr. Danny Yang, to attend a meeting in Solaire Resort and Casino in Parañaque with former National Bureau Intelligence Director Dante Gierran, and John Vries.”
He claimed that during the meeting, “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 Esmeralda yan, may kopya n'yan .”
According to Ragos, 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. I hope 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.
Aguirre previously denied Ragos’ allegations in the affidavit.