‘As for the rest who gleefully jumped on the bandwagon, those legislators who publicly humiliated De Lima, what now? Will they do an about face and call for her immediate release, or will they continue to cling to the house of cards that was sold to them?’
THE retractions from self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa and ex-Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos confirm what many of us knew back in March 2017: all the charges against Sen. Leila de Lima are malicious, fabricated, and intended to silence her. It is imperative that the Department of Justice withdraw these cases at the soonest possible time to prevent further injustice against a woman who was once at the helm of the department.
For five long years, De Lima defended herself against these allegations, never once wavering in her belief that her innocence would soon be confirmed. She continued to discharge her duties as a senator of the Republic, penning her dispatches from detention, filing bills and resolutions from the solitude of her cell.
Ragos, one of the principal witnesses against De Lima in the cases pending before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court, admitted that he was forced by former DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to give false testimony. There was absolutely no truth to his earlier story that he personally delivered money to De Lima’s house in Parañaque, ostensibly as grease money from Peter Co and other drug lords. This admission from Ragos that he was coerced to lie about De Lima’s so-called involvement is especially important since the prosecution relied heavily on these fabrications.
Earlier in the week, Espinosa also retracted his testimony against De Lima, claiming he agreed to pin her to the drug trade in exchange for a promise made by the police that the case against him would be dismissed.
The systematic decimation of De Lima’s reputation, through black propaganda (remember that fake sex video?) pushed by the allies and minions of President Rodrigo Duterte was intended simply to crush the fly in the ointment, and we now know that they spared no expense to bring down a woman who spoke truth to power.
Equally acrimonious is the revelation that part of this was orchestrated by a man who was once mandated to ensure the dispensation of justice. Vitaliano Aguirre deserves no less than a vigorous and unrelenting condemnation for the part he has played in this farce.
The question is, what comes next? Will Menardo Guevarra, the incumbent Secretary of Justice, allow himself to be complicit in this charade, even after being confronted with the glaring repudiations of the principal witness? Sure, he can buy himself time by choosing to dismiss Espinosa’s recantation by saying (as the Prosecutor General did) that it had no effect on the pending cases as Espinosa is neither respondent nor witness, but the same cannot be said of Ragos’ bombshell.
As former Supreme Court spokesperson and UP law professor Ted Te pointed out on Twitter, the implication of Aguirre is a very serious charge that effectively taints the entire process and is, at the very least, opens the door to reasonable doubt.
The basis for establishing probably cause (the standard by which criminal offenses are filed in court from the prosecutorial level) clearly was fabricated, in light of Ragos’ own admission that his story was not just tainted but completely manufactured.
As for the rest who gleefully jumped on the bandwagon, those legislators who publicly humiliated De Lima, what now? Will they do an about face and call for her immediate release, or will they continue to cling to the house of cards that was sold to them? Both Espinosa and Ragos formally apologized to De Lima (whether these apologies are enough considering the harm done is another matter) and it bears asking whether those who came out with pitchforks aloft will do the same.
I hope these developments do not just lead to De Lima’s vindication, post-haste, but also turn the tide for voters who were bamboozled by these fabrications against her. There is still time, my dear millennials and fillennials.
