After 6 years in jail, De Lima pleads for freedom

Leila de Lima

Former Sen. Leila de Lima marked the sixth year of her detention by filing a supplemental omnibus motion for her “outright dismissal, immediate release and right to post bail” from the drug case filed by the Duterte administration.

In a 33-page petition, De Lima’s legal camp moved to dismiss her case, release her and her former driver Ronnie Dayan, and grant them bail on the grounds that “there is no strong evidence of her guilt.”

“Six years is indeed a long time to wait to start the process of restoring a reputation that was the subject of unrelentless, malicious attacks that culminated in the filing of manufactured criminal charges,” the motion read.

“The least that accused De Lima could ask for is that her vindication might finally begin with the restoration of her freedom,” it added.

The motion is based on former Bureau of Corrections officer in charge Rafael Ragos’ affirmation of his retraction of his prior testimonies against De Lima.

“Ragos’ retraction has, once and for all, destroyed the one and only piece of prosecution evidence that purportedly linked accused De Lima to the offense charged in the case, as tenuous as it has always been,” the motion stated.

Ragos was a key witness presented by the prosecution who previously claimed that he delivered De Lima’s money from the drug trade in New Bilibid Prison to her residence in 2012. Last year, Ragos executed an affidavit recanting this allegation and said that “De Lima is incapable of doing anything illegal, much less engage in the illegal drug trade or accept money from Bilibid inmates.”

The motion further argued that Ragos was coerced not only because of the threat of being jailed but also because then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II could fire him from his position as a deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation.

“Aguirre, or anyone at his behest or direction, need not have pointed a gun to Ragos’ head all throughout his ordeal, or kidnapped his family and threatened them with harm if Ragos did not perform what Aguirre wanted him to do,” the motion stated.

‘Trumped-up’ charges

De Lima, a former justice secretary, has been in jail over what she called ‘trumped-up’ drug charges.

In her latest handwritten dispatch, De Lima said she spoke with the delegation of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights who visited her at Camp Crame on Thursday for one-a-half hours.

The delegation was led by Hannah Neumann (Germany), vice chair of the EU Parliament subcommittee on human rights, Isabel Wiseler-Lima (Luxembourg), Karsten Lucke (Germany), Silvia Sardone (Italy), Ryszard Czarnecki (Poland) and Miguel Urban (Spain).

She said she shared her present condition, including her nightmarish experience when she was held hostage by a fellow inmate who supposedly tried to bolt from the tightly guarded prison facility four months ago.

“In all humility, and with a joyous heart, I thank the members of the delegation for taking time to visit me and for their dauntless efforts in consistently pushing for my immediate release,” De Lima said.

Their visit, she said, “buoyed my spirit as it is yet again an [affirmation] of the universal acceptance of my causes.”

“I expressed to them my hope and optimism on the prospects of freedom and vindication,” she said.

According to De Lima, her conversation with the visiting foreign legislators touched on the resumption of the investigation of the International Criminal Court into former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

“I am still fighting for my own innocence and for justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings and the families they left behind. Today, more than ever, I am convinced that I did the right thing of sacrificing my personal liberty and even my political career,” she said.

Businessmen push release

Five business groups on Friday urged the Marcos administration to facilitate the release of De Lima, marking the most recent push from private sector stakeholders who seem to have seen merit in her innocence.

The organizations are the Makati Business Club (MBC), the Filipina CEO Circle, the Philippine Women’s Economic Network, the Women’s Business Council Philippines and the Justice Reform Initiative.

“We believe the justifications for her detention by the previous administration have long disappeared, as witnesses recanted their testimonies,” read the joint statement issued by the MBC.

“Aside from restoring her human rights, we believe her release will help undo or avoid other human rights violations,” it read further.

—With a report from Alden M. Monzon

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