FILE PHOTO: Senator Leila de Lima in a forum in Quezon City on March 11, 2016. INQUIRER/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Leila de Lima on Monday urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to “go beyond a superficial review” of the drug cases filed against her.
The detained legislator said the justice secretary must “dig deeper” to find out “the very circumstances” that led to the execution of “cold statements or affidavits” of witnesses that tagged her in the drug trade.
In a dispatch from Camp Crame where she is currently detained, de Lima said she was thankful that the DOJ will reassess the remaining evidence against her in her drug-related cases, which the opposition senator has denied and described as “trumped-up charges” many times before.
“In assessing or re-assessing the rest of the evidence against me, the SOJ [Secretary of Justice]/DOJ must go beyond a superficial review of the cold statements or affidavits of the witnesses and inquire into the very circumstances by which these were extracted,” she said.
“More than the now recanting witnesses, the Bilibid witnesses are most vulnerable to various insidious machinations – threats, coercion, bribery, concessions, a promise of immunity even when unqualified as state witnesses, etc. Dig deeper please, I so implore,” she added.
De Lima, who also served as DOJ secretary prior to becoming a senator, continued: “Neither the law nor the rules restrain the SOJ and the DOJ from acting under these premises and correct a grievous wrong, even when the cases are already with the courts. Again, their foremost task is to seek out the truth, uphold the same, and do justice,”
Earlier, outgoing Justice Secretary Guevarra told the Inquirer that he had ordered government prosecutors to review the evidence in the two remaining cases lodged against the detained senator before the courts in Muntinlupa City.
This developed as several witnesses retracted their statements implicating de Lima in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison.
“It is the DOJ’s sacred mandate to ensure that no injustice is done to anyone. Just as the DOJ must ensure the prosecution and conviction of those guilty of real crimes, it must also ensure that an innocent is spared from a baseless or farcical prosecution,” the outgoing senator said.
“DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra should not be doing a Pontius Pilate by just pointing to his predecessor as the initiator of the cases against me,” she added.
De Lima also asserted that Geuvarra is “morally and legally bound” to look into the recent retractions of the “star witnesses” in the House and Senate hearings, namely former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos, the senator’s former driver Ronnie Dayan, and drug personality Kerwin Espinosa.
READ: Another witness denies link with De Lima, retracts claims vs detained senator
The DOJ, she further said, should likewise look into how these witnesses were allegedly coerced and threatened into “fabricating stories and testifying against” her.
“These are very serious allegations which indicate a premeditated conspiracy of government officials and political allies of Duterte to manufacture testimony and evidence against me,” de Lima said.
“The Secretary of Justice, as the premier advocate of justice, and the DOJ, as the premiere justice institution, must always care about uncovering the truth in light of these retractions and claims of government coercion,” she added.
De Lima moreover sought to “set the facts right” as she denied “pursuing my defense based on these recantations only through the media.”
She pointed out that the retractions made by the witnesses are already part of the records of the courts hearing her remaining cases.
“Ragos’ affidavit of recantation is now with the RTC of Muntinlupa as an attachment to our Omnibus Motion for Outright Dismissal or Bail. On the other hand, Dayan’s judicial affidavit recanting his testimony before the House Justice Committee hearing on the Bilibid drug trade has also been submitted to the same court and is in fact already the subject of cross-examination,” she explained.
“Espinosa’s own counter-affidavit containing his recantation has been submitted to the DOJ in the course of the preliminary investigation of one of his remaining cases,” she added.
She stressed that despite the “travesty of justice” she is facing, she remains “respectful of the courts and the rule of law by participating in the judicial proceedings.”
“But, as always, I make it a point to apprise the public through media of the case developments, in the interest of truth and transparency,” she added.
De Lima has been in detention since February 2017. She sought reelection to the Senate in the elections last May 9 but did not succeed in her bid.