Senator Leila De Lima on Thursday, April 1, described as lies the recent allegations by jailed drug convict Herbert Colanggo against her, as she believed he made those statements as a matter of “survival” in prison.

Colanggo, in a video posted on YouTube Monday, ranted about an alleged plan to change his guards, believing it was an attempt to delay his exposé against the detained lawmaker as a witness in her drug trial.

Colanggo is under the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Camp Aguinaldo due to previous threats to his safety in Bilibid, the state penitentiary in Muntinlupa.

Convicts are prohibited from getting access to cellular phones and internet yet Colanggo was able to post his video on YouTube.

De Lima said the allegations against her are absurd.

“These [Department of Justice]-protected and morally depraved convicts are getting bolder and bolder and yet more absurd, with their lies. Durano. Capones. And now [Colanggo]. More lies. Fantastic tales,” De Lima said.

“Why? Survival. Ayaw nilang matulad kay Jaybee Sebastian na na-COVID kuno,” De Lima added. (They don’t want to suffer the fate of Jaybee Sebastian who supposedly died from COVID-19.)

De Lima was referring to high-profile drug convict Jaybee Sebastian, whose remains were immediately cremated after succumbing to COVID-19, the Bureau of Corrections said on July 20, 2020.

De Lima added that she believes President Rodrigo Duterte is manipulating drug convicts against her.

“These felons are opportunists…. Duterte, a criminal himself, knows how to manipulate these convicts,” De Lima said.

In the video, Colanggo alleged that he was unable to reveal his entire exposé when he attended a House of Representatives inquiry in 2016 because he was prevented from doing so by his supposed ex-girlfriend Nova Princess Parojinog, the former Ozamiz city vice mayor who is herself jailed in Camp Crame for drug charges.

Parojinog’s father, former mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, was killed in a police raid in July 2017. Back then, members of the Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), together with the Misamis Occidental Police Provincial Office and the Ozamiz City Police Station raided the Parojinog residence armed with search warrants. The elder Parojinog had been linked to the narcotics trade.

De Lima’s camp has decried the inconsistencies in testimonies of drug convicts, and the senator has questioned how they became qualified to testify against her in the first place.

De Lima to Espenido: Come clean

Meanwhile, De Lima urged Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, a former key official in Duterte’s drug war, to “come clean” after he surrendered to authorities over a homicide case stemming from a police raid in 2017.

“Time for Espenido to come clean and tell all. Who ordered him to execute Mayor Espinosa and the Parojinogs? Who ordered him to lie during a Senate inquiry about my alleged links to Kerwin Espinosa?” De Lima said.

Espenido was chief of police in Albuera, Leyte when then-mayor Rolando Espinosa, a drug suspect, was shot dead inside his jail.

In February 2020, De Lima insisted that Espenido knew about the “lies” thrown at her about her alleged links to confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, son of the slain Rolando.

De Lima, who has been behind bars since 2017, is facing two remaining conspiracy to commit drug charges. – Rappler.com