MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Leila de Lima has launched another bid for her freedom as she marks her sixth year in detention due to drug-related charges she has claimed are trumped up.
De Lima, through her lawyers, filed electronically a Supplemental Omnibus Motion for Outright Dismissal; Immediate Release; and/or Bail Ad Cautelam on Thursday before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204.
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The former lawmaker sought for the dismissal of the case due to “lack of evidence” and for her release. She also asked the court to grant her right to bail, which would give her temporary liberty.
Pending before the said court is one drug charge where De Lima and her former aide Ronnie Dayan are accused of receiving P10 million drug money from former corrections official Rafael Ragos, who recanted his testimony earlier this year.
Her lawyers said that given her “innocence” as attested to by Ragos which he confirmed in open court, “accused De Lima must now be spared from further inconvenience, expense, pain, anxiety and the ignominy of prolonged trial proceedings through outright dismissal of the instant case.”
At the very least, De Lima should be allowed to post bail, they added, following Ragos’ retraction which is “the only testimony offered by the Prosecution that supposedly directly links her to the offense charged.”
Ragos’ retraction
“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 this case, as tenuous as it has always been,” De Lima’s lawyers told the court.
In an earlier field motion, De Lima noted that when the court junked her Demurrer to Evidence dated Feb. 7, 2021, where she sought dismissal on the case midway trial, the court acknowledged that the deliveries and Ragos’ testimony as the sole basis of the charge.
In the cited court order, Presiding Judge Liezel Aquiatan noted that De Lima and Dayan noted that Ragos and his deputy Jovencio Ablen described her house where the former met Dayan and handed the bag filled with money. Ablen “was with Ragos at the time of the deliveries and he corroborated Ragos’ testimony in his own perspective.
De Lima’s counsels also noted that Ragos, who repeatedly testified before the court for direct and cross examination, categorically said that he was not forced or paid to recant his testimony.
They pointed out that the direct examination and cross-examination of Ragos showed that his testimony that there was no P10 million sent to his quarters — which was supposedly delivered to De Lima in two tranches — is “consistent, clear and categorical,” leaving no room for doubt.
They also asserted that Ragos has been coerced by former government officials, including ex-Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, to make the false testimony against De Lima
“The absence of categorical proof of any money ever being delivered to accused De Lima only shows the weakness of the Prosecution evidence in proving any of the essential allegations in the Amended Information,” they said, adding that: “It is an absolute failure on the part of the Prosecution to prove the essential elements of the crime charged.”
And without Ragos’ testimony, her lawyers said that the prosecution is left with testimonies from Gen. Benjamin Magalong (now Mayor of Baguio City), inmates, and [Anti-Money Laundering Council] and bank representatives that “exonerated” De Lima.
“Given the foregoing, the dismissal of the instant case or, in the interim or alternative, the grant of bail is most warranted, in the paramount amount of justice,” they added.
Sixth year in detention
Apart from this case, De Lima is facing another drug-related charge before a separate Muntinlupa court. But on Friday, her sixth year in detention, De Lima said she believes her “vindication is at hand.”
“Today, after 6 years, 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 added in her latest dispatch from Camp Crame.