THE camp of former senator Leila de Lima yesterday slammed former President Rodrigo Duterte for “telling lies” when he said he was not interested in the outcome of the drug cases filed against her after she was acquitted in one of her two remaining cases before the Muntinlupa City regional trial court.
Lawyer Dino de Leon was referring to the statement last May 13 of Duterte that he had nothing to do with the drug charges and that he never interfered with the judicial processes during his presidency.
Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 Judge Joseph Abraham Alcantara acquitted the former senator in the conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading case in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) while she was the secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
De Leon said Duterte is so used to telling lies that it seems he forgot all the statements he uttered linking De Lima to the drug case.
“Mahilig talagang magsinungaling itong si former president Rodrigo Duterte. He is revising history. Everyone knows for a fact that he authored this. He said, ‘De Lima, you are finished.’ He said, ‘You will rot in jail,” De Leon told CNN Philippines, referring to an August 2016 news conference where Duterte supposedly made the statements.
“Let’s not fool the Filipino people. It was Rodrigo Duterte and his cohorts during his administration who authored this. He has everything to do with the persecution of Leila de Lima,” he said, adding that the former president’s tirades against De Lima even extended during his state visit to Beijing in October 2016 where he told members of the Filipino community that based on the testimonies of prosecution’s witnesses, the former senator will “rot in jail.”
The DOJ, which was then led by Vitaliano Aguirre II, had also said the government had an airtight case against De Lima as there were witnesses who would testify to her alleged links to the illegal drugs trade in the national penitentiary when she was still DOJ chief.
Ironically, it was the recantation of the key prosecution witness in the case – former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos – whom the Muntinlupa court cited as critical in the decision to acquit De Lima of the charges.
Ragos claimed he was coerced by Aguirre to implicate De Lima to the narcotics trade, a claim Aguirre denied.
In a related development, De Leon said they will make sure all those responsible for pressuring witnesses to speak against De Lima will be held liable.
“All of them should be held into account. That has always been the stand of senator Leila de Lima. For her, the battle is bigger than her political career, the battle is bigger than herself. And that is the reason why, despite the fact that she already forgave all her persecutors, she will hold them into account,” he added.
De Lima is now waiting for Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256 Judge Romeo Buenaventura to rule on her petition for bail.
The court set hearings on June 5, 19, and 26 for the presentation of new witnesses but De Lima’s camp said it will not affect the overall petition for bail.
Branch 256 is handling the complaint against De Lima, former BuCor chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu, Bucayu’s former staff Wilfredo Elli, inmate Jaybee Sebastian, Ronnie Dayan, Joenel Sanchez, and a certain Jad de Vera.
