Press Release
May 18, 2022

De Lima to focus on dismissal of bogus drug cases vs her; seeks immediate freedom and vindication

Senator Leila M. de Lima bared that she will now focus on the dismissal of the trumped-up drug charges filed against her following the national elections.

De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said she wants the "whole business of Duterte's fake drug cases" against her to first be put to an end to ensure her freedom.

"I will now have to focus on the dismissal of the fabricated drug cases against me so I can finally be released," she said.

"It may have taken years of injustice and persecution, but truth and justice will always prevail. It has no timeline," she added.

As the fiercest critic of the Duterte regime's crooked and inhumane policies, De Lima has been detained since Feb. 24, 2017 for trumped-up illegal drug charges based mostly on false testimonies of convicted felons.

As De Lima put it, the loss of her freedom was the price she had to pay for standing up against the butchery of the Duterte regime.

Three witnesses, including self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and her former aide and co-accused Ronnie Dayan, already recanted their respective testimonies that she was involved in the illegal drug trade.

Espinosa said he was coerced by policemen to make the statements against De Lima while Ragos claimed he was threatened by then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, a known ally of Duterte, into making false allegations against the Senator.

Dayan, for his part, said the statements he made before the Congress "were made under duress and without the benefit of counsel of his choice."

Without any more threats, coercion or bribes, De Lima said she believes that the Bilibid inmates who testified against her will also start telling the truth and the cases against her "will be exposed for the fraud that they are."

With these developments, Atty. Rolly Francis Peoro, one of De Lima's legal counsels, said they are hopeful that the Court will reverse the earlier denial of their Demurrer to Evidence or would grant their new motion to dismiss the case against the Senator, or at the very least grant her bail.

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