Former Senator Leila de Lima has been acquitted by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 of her drug case related to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade during her time as Justice Secretary. In its decision, the court said that while government prosecutors managed to uncover the complex network of drug transactions involving high-profile inmates, they failed to establish de Lima’s involvement.
Testimonies from prosecution witnesses Benjamin Magalong, then Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) Director and Nonilo Arile, former police investigator convicted of kidnapping-turned police asset, revealed rampant drug trading and illegal gambling operations inside the NBP. Magalong testified to identifying high-profile inmates Ben Marcelo, Vicente Sy, Peter Co, Tony Co, William Ang, and others as controlling the drug trade in the entire country and said they had finalized an operation plan for the raid. But he added they had been excluded from the actual operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, BuCor, and its K9 unit.
Two inmates, Hans Anton Tan and Peter Co, and police officer Jerry Crisostomo Valeroso mentioned de Lima in their testimonies regarding soliciting PHP10 million for her senatorial bid. However, the court noted that these allegations came solely from fellow convicted, the late Jaybee Sebastian.
Among the witnesses, only then-Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and Intelligence Agent Jovencio Ablen testified seeing de Lima. Ablen said he accompanied Ragos when he delivered a total of PHP10 million at de Lima’s house, but the court noted that only Ragos knew the source of the money — the proceeds of the drug trade. However, Ragos later disowned his testimony, saying he was threatened to sign an affidavit implicating de Lima.
Establishing the existence of the crime of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade was a failure, the court said. “The subsequent recantation of witness Ragos casts reasonable doubt on the credibility of his testimony,” the court added. It noted that recantations are viewed with suspicion and reservation since witnesses can be intimidated to withdraw their previous testimonies. Without Ragos, there is no “crucial link” to establish that de Lima conspired with inmates in its illegal drug trade, the court said.
While supporting the eradication of illegal drugs, the court emphasized that the “vigilance in eradicating illegal drugs cannot come at the expense of disregarding the rule of law, evidence and established jurisprudence on the matter.” De Lima was previously cleared by the same court in her second drug case.
