MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Leila De Lima on Friday reacted to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) refusal to transfer the 11 inmate-witnesses on her last drug case.
In a statement, she said that the DOJ's remark shows the justice department’s “continuing attempt to stand by its former secretaries.
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This statement was issued a day after the DOJ discouraged the transfer of the inmate-witnesses saying that they are convicted felons and emphasizing that recantation does not warrant a “reward.”
“Until the very last moment, this agency which I also led for five years opposed my application for bail, despite its willful and deliberate use of manufactured evidence and perjured witnesses just to sustain Duterte’s persecution cases against me,” De Lima, who was also a former justice secretary, said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“The DOJ wants to prevent them from testifying again in court on their recantations to stop the identification of DOJ officials who played a crucial role in forcing them to lie & fabricate evidence in my cases,” she added.
On Wednesday, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 approved the transfer of the 11 inmate witnesses from the Sablayan Prison Camp to the New Billibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Among the 11 witnesses are four persons deprived of liberty which the prosecution also recommended being transferred for a “smooth and easy access.” The DOJ raised concern over this, questioning the credibility of the witnesses.
De Lima, meanwhile, remarked that the DOJ supported the inmate-witnesses when it served their agenda but is now discrediting them, labeling them as convicted felons, and questioning the credibility of their recantations.
“DOJ also says these are not ordinary witnesses, but convicted felons. That is what we've been telling the DOJ since Day One. As convicted felons, they're not ordinary witnesses, but they are also disqualified from testifying as state witnesses under Witness Protection Law,” De Lima said in her statement.
It can be recalled that one of the witnesses include former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos who recanted his testimony against De Lima in April 2022. He said that former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre coerced him to testify against the former senator. Aguirre denied all the accusations of Ragos.
On November 26, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the Ombudsman’s dismissal of De Lima’s complaints against Aguirre and former justice secretary Menardo Guevarra over the use of convicted criminals as state witnesses in her drug cases.
The CA said that the Ombudsman had committed grave abuse of discretion when it dismissed the complaints based on “inapplicable exemptions.”
Meanwhile, DOJ spokesman Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano reacted to De Lima's remark and said that the DOJ is just doing "the right thing."
“We are only doing what we think is the right thing to do. Nothing more, nothing less," he told Philstar.com.
The RTC has the jurisdiction
In her statement, De Lima also argued that the inmate-witnesses are under the jurisdiction of the Muntinlupa RTC as they are witnesses in a pending case before it.
“RTC of Muntinlupa clearly has jurisdiction over these inmates for the simple reason that they are witnesses in a case pending before it and that it is in the interest of the administration of justice that the court is assured that they are safe & free in their testimony,” De Lima, who served as DOJ secretary from 2010 to 2015, said in her statement.
The DOJ on Thursday said that the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) holds the jurisdiction over the “custody and management” of the inmate-witnesses.
“Sa tingin ng department, yung authority, custody nitong mga witnesses ay nasa BuCor dahil before they were witnesses, they were convicted felons and karamihan diyan ay naconvict of heinous crimes,” Clavano said in a Zoom press briefing with reporters.
(In the department's view, the authority and custody of these witnesses are under the BuCor because before they became witnesses, they were convicted felons, and most of them were convicted of heinous crimes.)
Clavano also said that the agency is looking into legal steps to hold the inmate-witnesses in Sablayan.
In response, De Lima said that the DOJ should prioritize in protecting the truth and not concealing it.
“Hindi dapat matakot ang DOJ sa ibubulgar ng mga inmate-witnesses na dati na nilang ginamit para maipakulong ang isang inosenteng tao nang halos pitong taon. Katotohanan ang dapat una nitong itinataguyod at pinoprotektahan, hindi ang pagtatakip nito,” De Lima said.
(The DOJ should not be afraid of what the inmate-witnesses might reveal, especially considering that they were previously utilized to imprison an innocent person for almost seven years. It should prioritize and protect the truth, rather than attempting to conceal it.) — with reports from Daphne Galvez and Kristine Joy Patag