PDEA ‘interested’ in result of cases vs De Lima amid Espinosa retraction

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TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said it is interested in the outcome of the drug-related charges against Senator Leila de Lima, especially after witness Kerwin Espinosa retracted his testimony against the detained critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

PDEA in a statement Friday admitted being “dispassionately interested” in the developments of the cases so that wrongdoers would be held accountable — even if it has not been involved in the filing of complaints against both Espinosa and de Lima.

“As to the matter of PDL Kerwin Espinosa’s retraction of his statements pertinent to cases lodged against Senator Leila de Lima, the [PDEA] will defer to the decision of the courts as to the implication of this recantation,” it said.

“Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento has previously given his opinion that Espinosa’s retraction has no bearing on the cases against Sen. Leila de Lima, and although PDEA was not involved in the filing of cases against either Espinosa or Sen. De Lima, the Agency is dispassionately interested in uncovering the truth and prosecuting those involved in the illegal drug trade,” it added.

On Thursday, Espinosa, son of late Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa who has been implicated in several drug cases, withdrew his affidavit linking de Lima to the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibd Prison. He said he was coerced to make the statements against the senator in 2016.

He also said police pressured him to implicate de Lima, as his and his family’s life were threatened if he did not speak against the senator.

“Any statement he made against the Senator are false and was the result of pressure, coercion, intimidation, and serious threats to his life and family members from the police who instructed him to implicate the Senator into the illegal drug trade,” Kerwin Espinosa’s counter-affidavit states.

“For this, undersigned apologizes to Senator De Lima,” it adds.

READ: Kerwin Espinosa recants drug trade accusations vs Sen. Leila de Lima

De Lima, who is seeking a return to the Senate in the May 9 polls, has been in detention at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center at Camp Crame, Quezon City, since February 2017 over what she has repeatedly branded as “trumped-up” drug cases.

Duterte administration officials have claimed that de Lima, as a justice secretary during the Aquino administration, supposedly allowed illegal drugs to proliferate inside the Bilibid. But de Lima insisted that she is being harassed and persecuted for speaking up against the President and extrajudicial killings, particularly the Davao Death Squad which is being linked to Duterte since he was mayor of Davao City.

READ: Duterte: ‘Bitch’ De Lima made world believe she’s prisoner of conscience 

Espinosa’s retraction provided a glimmer of hope for de Lima, who along with her lawyers urged others who were purportedly forced to speak against the senator to “come out and confess.”

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