Palace respects, trusts independent court’s handling of De Lima case

Detained Senator Leila de Lima  (Image from her Twitter account)

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday said it respects the independence of the court in handling the case of detained senator Leila De Lima after key personalities retracted their accusations against the opposition lawmaker.

Acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar also said that the Palace continues to “trust” the authorities — particularly the Department of Justice and the National Prosecution Service — to perform their duty in the investigation.

“We respect the independence of the court handling the case of Senator Leila De Lima, particularly in evaluating the evidence presented, such as the statements of former Bureau of Corrections Officer-in-Charge Rafael Ragos,” Andanar said in a statement.

“At the same time, we continue to trust the Department of Justice and the National Prosecution Service in performing their mandates in investigating and prosecuting the charges against the lady senator,” he added.

Rafael Ragos, former officer-in-charge for the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and a key witness in the case against De Lima, recanted his statements accusing the senator of involvement in the illegal drugs trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

In his affidavit, Ragos alleged that then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had “coerced” him into testifying against De Lima.

Ragos made accusations against De Lima on various occasions starting in 2016 at the House of Representatives justice committee hearing on the NBP illegal drug trade and during case hearings at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204.

De Lima has been in jail since 2017 on drug charges, all of which she had denied.

Before Ragos, self-confessed drug trader Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa likewise recanted his statement that linked  de Lima to the  illegal drugs trade inside the NBP.

His counter-affidavit stated that 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.”

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