De Lima on latest arrest warrant: Weakest among drug charges

As she faces another arrest warrant, Sen. Leila de Lima said Sunday she’s “optimistic” that judges handling the cases against her will see the “unreliability” of the witnesses against her.

De Lima said her camp will contest the new arrest warrant issued against her along with co-accused Jose Adrian Dera alias Jad De Vera, by Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 205.

“A motion for reconsideration will be filed on the ground that there is no probable cause and the prosecution’s case is extremely weak, the weakest among the three trumped-up drug charges, especially after the person the government has identified as my link to the commission of the offense charged, my co-accused in this particular case, already executed a statement denying my involvement,” she said.

“My accusers say that Mr. Jose Adrian Dera alias Jad Dera is a nephew and an aide of mine. I do not know him at all. Dera himself already denied any relationship or connection to me whatsoever,” she added.

According to the DOJ, De Lima had conspired with Dera in committing illegal drug trading when the latter "demanded, solicited and extorted" money and vehicles from Peter Co, a high profile inmate at the national penitentiary.

The senator is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center inside Camp Crame, because of the arrest warrant first issued by Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa RTC's Branch 204.

She is facing another illegal drug trading case before Judge Patria Manalastas-de Leon of the Muntinlupa RTC's Branch 206.

Despite these, she said she continues “to have faith in the judiciary.”

She reiterates: “Inosente po ako sa lahat ng mga paratang nila sa akin.”

“In the process of the prosecution of my cases, I am optimistic that the handling judges will more and more realize the unreliability of the witnesses against me, as well as the incredibility of their stories. In the end, all of these so-called witnesses will be proven to have been lying all along, or have simply been threatened to falsely testify against me,” she said.

“The truth will still come out in the end. In the meantime, I will continue to exhaust legal remedies to fight my illegal arrest and detention,” she added. —Rose-an Jessica Dioquino/ALG, GMA News