BY RAYMOND AFRICA and ASHZEL HACHERO
THE camp of Sen. Leila de Lima yesterday demanded that all drug charges filed against the lawmaker be dropped after former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos recanted his statements against her.
Boni Tacardon, one of De Lima’s legal counsels, said the retraction of Ragos confirmed their client’s innocence.
“I-drop na sana ang mga kaso laban kay Sen. De Lima. Dahil sa paglabas ni Ragos, ‘yung matagal nang sinasabi na siya’y inosente ay may matibay nang basehan (We demand that the Department of Justice drop the cases against Sen. De Lima. The recantation of Ragos proves that what she has long been saying that she is innocent has strong basis),”
Tacardon told Malaya in a phone interview.
He said they will present Ragos’ affidavit to the courts.
At the same time, Tacardon urged other witnesses who have falsely testified against De Lima to come out in the open and do the same thing as Ragos did.
“Sa mga testigo naman, kami ay nanawagan na sila ay magsabi na rin ng totoo, kung sila man ay tinakot or sinuhulan. Sundan na nila ang mga yapak nila Kerwin Espinosa at Rafael Ragos (We appeal to the other witness to tell the truth, whether they were coerced or bribed [to testify against De Lima]. We urge them to follow the footsteps of Kerwin Espinosa and Rafael Ragos),” he said.
Tacardon said their camp is also studying what their next move would be against the people who have conspired to send De Lima to jail.
Dino de Leon, another defense lawyer, said they will run after all those who have wronged the senator.
“We are prepared to fault all those people who are part of this greatest deception into account,”De Leon said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Ragos, in a sworn affidavit dated April 30, recanted his allegations that De Lima was involved in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison during her term as secretary of the Department of Justice.
He pointed to former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II as the person who allegedly coerced him to give false testimonies against De Lima under pain of being prosecuted alongside the senator.
Ragos’ recantation came a few days after self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa withdrew all his accusations against De Lima, saying that he, too, was threatened by the police to link the senator to illegal drugs.
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED?
Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said the DOJ is looking at the possibility that the recantation of Espinosa and Ragos could be politically motivated.
Malcontento made the remarks when asked in a television interview if he saw some political connection or motivation behind the decision of Espinosa and Ragos to retract their testimonies linking De Lima to the illegal drugs trade when she was still the DOJ chief under the previous administration.
“That is a very good question because one after the other and by Monday we have an election so we can reasonably presume that there is a connection here. In so far as politics is concerned, that is our assessment,” Malcontento told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Tuesday.
“For the cases concerned, the prosecution is still firm that insofar as the first case, we are not solely relying on the testimony of Mr. Ragos,” he added.
Pressed if the recantation of Espinosa and Ragos were politically motivated, the prosecutor general said: “We are looking at that as well.”
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa shared Malcontento’s statement, saying that he believes the recantation of Espinosa and Ragos may have been politically motivated.
“It happened during this time of political season. They have been quiet for the last 5 years and why just now? Is it because it’s election time?” Dela Rosa said in a Viber message to Malaya when asked what he thought of the recent recantations. He did not elaborate.
Espinosa last week said he was pressured and intimidated by police officers to invent stories against De Lima, while Ragos pointed to Aguirre as the man behind efforts to link the senator to the narcotics trade and put her in jail.
Ragos also pointed to other DOJ and NBI officials whom he said made life difficult for him while he was in detention.
Malcontento reiterated that Ragos’ recantation will not affect their charges against the lawmaker, adding that courts generally view recantations with disfavor.
“The court has to weigh between the two affidavits. The first affidavit wherein it was followed by a series of testimonies coming from Mr. Ragos and this latest affidavit. It is the duty of the court now to weigh what to believe or not to believe at all,” Malcontento said.
He said there have been instances where courts give more weight to the initial affidavits instead of the recantation.
“As a rule, recantation is viewed with disfavor. The testimony of Ragos given solemnly in court is given more weight,” the DOJ said on Monday, adding that recanted testimony is “exceedingly unreliable for there is always the chance that it will be repudiated.”
Malcontento also said that Branch 205 of the Muntinlupa RTC has already denied De Lima’s demurrer to evidence last year “so the sole recantation on the part of Ragos will not automatically result to an acquittal. The court may not even believe this latest affidavit.”
A demurrer is a pleading that the defense files to seek an outright dismissal of a case based on the weakness of prosecution evidence.
The RTC’s decision to junk De Lima’s demurrer, Malcontento explained, means that their evidence is strong against her.
The court’s decision to deny De Lima’s demurrer, however, was largely based on Ragos’ allegations against her.
