Former Senator Leila de Lima (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)

Former Senator Leila de Lima said she felt “vindicated” after retired Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido retracted his 2016 Senate testimony wherein he implicated De Lima in the illegal drug trade.

In an impromptu press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 22, De Lima recalled that during the Senate investigation in 2016, she already felt that Espenido was lying.

“Kinausap ko siya after the hearing, pero na-sense ko na kaagad na may alam siya,” the former senator said.

(I talked to him after the hearing, but I immediately sensed that he knew something.)

“He never knew me being involved in the illegal drug trade,” she added.

During Tuesday’s hearing by the House quad-committee (quad-comm), Espenido corroborated the earlier claim of Kerwin Espinosa who alleged that Senator Roland “Bato” Dela Rosa merely forced him to implicate De Lima in the illegal drug trade.

According to Espenido, he spoke with Espinosa to make sure that their testimonies against the former senator were in synch.

De Lima, who joined the quad-comm hearing as a resource person, noted that the retired police official's retraction was proof that the accusations against her were baseless.

“Lahat ito unraveling of the truth, lahat ito kasama sa vindication ko,” she said.

(It's all unraveling of the truth, it's all included in my vindication.)

De Lima said the allegations linking her to drug trade were all part of a “script”.

“Alam ko na kaagad na mayroon lang nagpwersa sa kanila para idawit ako,” she emphasized.

(I knew immediately that someone had forced them to implicate me.)

De Lima spent over six years in detention while on trial for drug trafficking charges.

Throughout her incarceration, she maintained that all the charges against her were “trumped-up”.

The ex-senator claimed that it was a retaliation for launching an inquiry into the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs.

It was during Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro's interpellation of Espenido that he confirmed that he was retracting his testimony against De Lima.

‘Binaliktad ang katotohanan’

The quad-comm, composing of four House committees, is currently investigating the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK) under Duterte’s watch.

De Lima, who expressed gratitude to the mega-panel’s ongoing probe, can’t help but be dismayed that such investigation did not happen sooner.

“Sana noon pa ‘yan kasi noon ako lang 
‘yung gumawa, binaliktad nila ‘yung katotohanan,” she said, referring to the probe she launched in the Senate.

(I wish this happened back then because when it was doing this alone, they turned the truth upside down.)

“Ako ang tinuro nila because they really wanted to silence me, to destroy my reputation, para siguro maging leksyon din sa iba, sa mga public officials, na you better not say anything about the drug war,” she continued.

(They accused me because they really wanted to silence me, to destroy my reputation, so that it might be a lesson to others, to public officials, that you better not say anything about the drug war.)

De Lima, who also served as commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), said probing Duterte’s war on drugs and the EJKs was vital to bringing justice to the victims and their families.

Some human rights organizations estimate that as many as 30,000 Filipinos were killed during the anti-drug campaign.

Charges vs. Duterte

According to De Lima, her lawyers are now preparing to file charges against the personalities who linked her to illegal drugs.

“We are of course looking at Mr. Duterte,” she told reporters.

De Lima claimed that former president Duterte ordered then-Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to file the “fabricated” cases against her.

“It’s not only on the level of Senator Bato, sigurado ako na si dating presidente rin ang may utos kay Senator Bato, then-PNP (Philippine National Police) Chief, na idiin ako diyan sa Kerwin Espinosa illegal drug trade,” she added.

(It's not only on the level of Senator Bato, I'm sure that the former president also ordered Senator Bato, then-PNP Chief, to pressure me on the Kerwin Espinosa illegal drug trade case.)

When asked if she will also file a case against Espinosa, De Lima said her lawyer was still mulling what steps to take next.

“Pinag-aaralan po ‘yan ng aming abogado kasi he would really be the direct witness on that, siya ang magiging state witness pero ine-evaluate pa namin lahat ‘yan,” the former senator noted.

(Our lawyer is studying that because he would really be the direct witness on that, he will be the state witness, but we are still evaluating all of that.)

Earlier, Espinosa said he was willing to face the consequences of his actions.