The high-profile inmates in New Bilibid Prison who testified against Senator Leila de Lima will not retract their testimonies despite the order of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II that they return to the maximum-security compound, according to their lawyer.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, counsel of most of the witnesses in the drug cases against De Lima, said that he was able to talk to his clients last Tuesday and they vowed to maintain their statements against the detained senator.
Topacio’s clients, including convicted drug lords led by Herbert Colangco and Noel Martinez, are currently held at the facility controlled by the Intelligence Service of the AFP in Camp Aguinaldo.
“I was in Camp Aguinaldo [Tuesday afternoon] to see some of my clients there. There is no such move to recant and I know for a fact,” the lawyer told reporters.
Aguirre’s transfer order covered inmates earlier transferred to the medium security compound in NBP, including Vicente Sy, Jojo Baligad, and Peter Co.
Topacio said he checked with the camp of Co, who assured him that they would also stand firm on their earlier testimonies against De Lima.
“While they do not want to be transferred back to the maximum security compound, there is no such plan to recant on their part and they are saying that someone is feeding the wrong information to Secretary Aguirre to foment division among the witnesses,” he said.
Topacio believes that information about the witnesses planning to recant their statements against De Lima could be part of a plot to weaken the cases against the senator.
“This guy is sowing dissension. I don’t know who’s pulling the strings. But someone is really trying to weaken the case against Sen. De Lima, and I cannot blame them because this involves life imprisonment sentences, and this involves the personal liberty of Senator De Lima,” he said.
Topacio, who assisted the witnesses when they testified against De Lima in the House inquiry on proliferation of illegal drug trade in NBP, issued the clarification after the lawyer of Sy, Baligad and Co was quoted saying in a press conference in Manila yesterday that there is a possibility of the witnesses recanting their statements.
“That (recantation) could be a possibility and that would be rather disastrous in a manner of speaking because if these witnesses will not cooperate then the privileges under the Witness Protection Program will be taken away from them. But what about the government’s effort to pin down some personalities?” lawyer Francis Acejas III reportedly said during the press conference.
But when contacted for clarification later in the day, the lawyer said there is no plan to recant but only an appeal from his clients for Aguirre not to transfer them back to the maximum-security compound.
Acejas cited threats against his clients inside the maximum-security compound – just like the threats against other witnesses transferred to Camp Aguinaldo.
Earlier this week, Aguirre ordered the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under officer-in-charge Rey Ragaas to immediately return the convicted drug lords from the medium security compound to their original detention facility.
The inmates were transferred from Building 14 in the maximum security compound in December last year under BuCor director Benjamin Delos Santos, who recently resigned from his post following the resurgence of illegal drugs trade inside the national penitentiary.
“All subsequent transfer of the high-profile inmates and/or inmates convicted of offenses related to illegal drugs within the NBP shall be signed and approved by the Secretary of Justice,” read the order.
In the same order, the Department of Justice (DOJ) chief also directed Ragaas to look into the transfer and submit an inventory of all inmates involved and the reasons for their transfer.