Leila de Lima

De Lima moves for freedom, ‘thinking of possible loss but hopeful’ for reelection

Lian Buan

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De Lima moves for freedom, ‘thinking of possible loss but hopeful’ for reelection

Sen. Leila M. de Lima attends resumption of hearing at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256.

Office of Leila de Lima

'There stands zero evidence against me, and much less any strong one,' De Lima tells the Muntinlupa court

MANILA, Philippines – Jailed opposition leader Leila De Lima formally moved for her freedom after she filed on Friday, May 6 a motion for outright dismissal and immediate release before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.

Bringing to the court’s attention the retraction of prosecution’s star witness, former corrections acting chief Rafael Ragos, De Lima told Branch 204: “It is now even less reasonable to ignore the plain and simple fact that there stands zero evidence against Accused De Lima, and much less any strong one.”

There are two remaining charges against De Lima, both for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. Ragos was the witness in only one of those cases, but he is so far the only witness overall who claims to have personally delivered drug money to De Lima.

In the Ragos case, Case No. 17-165, the other witness is former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent Jun Ablen. Ragos was an NBI deputy director and Ablen was his sidekick, until they had a falling out and Ragos sent a memorandum that Ablen was involved in drug trade. The memorandum was 2013 and a year before, in 2012, Ragos and Ablen allegedly delivered drug money to De Lima’s house on two occasions.

However, De Lima points out that it was only Ragos who claimed to have personally handed the money to her. Ablen had only claimed seeing De Lima and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan open the door. In their story, before Ragos retracted, Ablen stayed in the car.

De Lima cited Branch 204’s own order from February 2021 that proceeded the case to trial: “[Ragos and Ablen] personally attended such delivery and had personal knowledge of the fact of receipt by accused Dayan and De Lima as Ragos testified to have seen it himself.”

De Lima told the court: “Ragos is the one and only witness who supposedly witnessed such receipt. No one else. Not Ablen. Not the other witnesses. Only Ragos.”

De Lima asked for an outright dismissal of the charge, and her immediate release. In the interim, De Lima requested she be granted bail.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had stood by its case, while former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, whom Ragos accused of coercing him to make the false testimony, urged prosecutors to reinstate Ragos in the charges. The DOJ dropped Ragos from the case in 2017 to make him a witness.

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‘Already thinking of possible loss but hopeful’

De Lima was not part of the Magic 12 of the senatorial elections survey done by Pulse Asia for April.

Speaking to Rappler from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center on Wednesday, May 4, De Lima said that while she shares some analysis that surveys may not be the most accurate this elections, “I’m very hopeful, but I already thinking about my possible loss.”

“I’m not supposed to say that to my campaign team, I want them to be upbeat,” said De Lima.

De Lima said campaigning from jail had been hard because donors were wary, either because of her situation or that generally people are tightening their purses because of the pandemic.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV campaigned and won as senator also from jail, but De Lima said they had different circumstances.

“No one has been subjected to this demonization made by the President himself. He painted me as a bad woman,” said De Lima, whose personal love life was scrutinized by men of the lower house during the 2016 hearings, with a fake sex video to boot.

De Lima admitted she and her team debated whether to highlight her human rights work and her legislative work to fight for victims of extrajudicial killings, aware that those were not gut issues.

In the end, De Lima conceded to highlight her being author of the 4Ps law, a cash grant mechanism for the poorest, but made sure her human rights side came second.

“I can’t lose that just because it’s the elections,” said De Lima, adding “I am not disappointed with the people that it’s not an election agenda, I am disappointed with the personalities, topmost is President Rodrigo Duterte, who demonized human rights.”

De Lima said win or lose, “I will defend the victims of extrajudicial killings.”

Even if the son of dictator wins?

“Yes, definitely. It will be more difficult, but I have to show there is justice in the end, and you have to fight for it,” said De Lima.

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Rappler.com

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Lian Buan

Lian Buan is a senior investigative reporter, and minder of Rappler's justice, human rights and crime cluster.