FILE PHOTO: Senator Manny Pacquiao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Following the controversy on detained senator Leila de Lima’s drug charges, presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday vowed full financial support for the judiciary should he win in the May 9 elections.
This is to keep the country from humiliation due to long-delayed resolution of cases, he said.
“Ang akin lang naman din, pakiusap ko lang din naman na tulungan din naman natin yung mga judiciary natin, ‘yung judicial system natin, dahil maliit ‘yung budget, hindi sila masyado makagalaw at walang suporta ng ating gobyerno, limited lang ang budget nila,” Pacquiao said.
(As for me, my only appeal is for us to help the judiciary which is prevented by a limited budget from fully functioning.)
Pacquiao made his vow as he appealed for a swift resolution of the drug cases filed against De Lima, which recently triggered new controversies as key witnesses implicating her in the drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison have recanted their testimonies.
Detained drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos have recently recanted, saying their accusations against De Lima were issued out of coercion and intimidation.
Espinosa said in his counter-affidavit 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.”
Ragos, meanwhile, said then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had “coerced” him into testifying against De Lima.
Pacquiao said the recantation of Ragos may put his credibility in bad light. He said he is not ready to give his full faith on the recantation of Ragos and Espinosa.
“Ako sakin di na sila kapani-paniwala. dahil pabago-bago yung salita eh. Paano mo paniwalaan ‘yan sila,” he said.
(As for me they are no longer credible because they have been changing their statements. How can one believe them?)
He, however, stressed the need for the immediate resolution of the charges against De Lima.
De Lima has been in jail since 2017 on drug charges, all of which she had denied.