De Lima asks Guevarra to review drug cases vs her after key witnesses recanted statements

Detained Senator Leila de Lima has asked Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to review the “trumped-up” drug charges filed against her by the Department of Justice after two key witnesses retracted their statements.

In a letter dated May 5, De Lima noted the affidavit recently executed by former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director and former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos retracting the statements he provided Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 on Case Number 17-165.

“There is a need for the DOJ to review the drug cases it filed against me to determine if indeed these were prosecuted by the Panel of Prosecutors even after being told by Ragos that his testimony and all his allegations against me ‘are all lies.’ This review should include the other case as well (Criminal Case No. 17-167) because if the Panel of Prosecutors that handles both cases are capable of suborning false testimony in one case, then nothing prevents them from doing the same in the other cases,” she said.

“If upon review, it is determined that Ragos’s statements are true, then all the cases against me should be immediately withdrawn by the DOJ in order to prevent a further miscarriage of justice where, even after these revelations indicating prosecutorial misconduct amounting to the criminal offense of subornation of perjury, the DOJ will still continue prosecuting said cases,” she added.

De Lima also noted how it appears that the DOJ Panel of Prosecutors presented Ragos’ testimony in court knowing it to be false and fabricated.

“Ragos told the prosecutors that they should not expect him ‘to manufacture perfectly plausible testimony because these are all lies” and that “the allegations against Senator De Lima never happened,’” she stressed.

In light of these revelations, De Lima said the DOJ should likewise “review the glaring facts in these cases which earlier on already indicated a premeditated conspiracy among DOJ and other high government officials to fabricate drug cases against me.”

These include, among others, the “orchestration” by former DOJ secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of the “trial by publicity” conducted against her both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and his alleged “coercion” of DOJ employees to admit falsely that they received money and held bank accounts for her benefit.

She recalled how Aguirre had previously attempted to use a fake deposit slip as evidence against her, but the date on the slip showed that it was a holiday.

The fake document was also disowned by a former DOJ employee in a Facebook post in September 2016.

Aside from the anomalous date on one slip, De Lima also pointed out that it was “impossible” for her to use her nickname in bank receipts.

The detained senator also urged the DOJ to review the recent retraction of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa in his counter-affidavit before the NBI.

De Lima said she hopes that her “most urgent matter” would merit Guevarra’s earnest attention and action.

“As Duterte’s term comes to an end, the DOJ can no longer afford to continue being blind  to these facts that clearly indicate a pattern of witness coercion and bribery in order to fabricate drug cases against me and send me to jail,” she wrote.

De Lima, a fierce critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly war on drugs, was jailed in February 2017 on allegations that she was part of the illegal drug trade inside the NBP during her stint as Justice secretary under Benigno  Aquino III's administration.—AOL, GMA News