Filibon Tacardon, the legal counsel of detained Sen. Leila de Lima said the recantation of another witness in de Lima’s cases highlighted “the pattern of witnesses admitting to being threatened and coerced to tell lies and pin people down.”
“We think this reflects what we have long been saying, that the cases against Senator De Lima were all fabricated by people who were threatened and coerced to lie and make it appear that she was involved in the illegal drug trade,” Tacardon, in an ABS-CBN News report said.
Tacardon also urged the Department of Justice to scrap the cases against de Lima.
De Lima’s camp said the “truth is coming out” after the fifth witness, Marcelo Adorco, recanted his claims against De Lima.
“The truth is coming out, so we continue urging the DOJ to again review the cases they fiied against Senator De Lima, junk them, and free our beloved senator,” Tacardon said.
Adorco, a key government witness, denied knowing and transacting with de Lima.
He also took back his allegations against self-confessed narcotics trafficker Kerwin Espinosa, who supposedly gave the senator drug payoffs when she was still justice secretary, according to the ABS CBN News report.
The report said Adorco, presented by the prosecution as Espinosa’s bodyguard and driver who supposedly knows the extent of his drug dealings, recanted his previous affidavits, in a counter-affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice on May 24.
Adorco, in his affidavit, said he had just been arrested and was detained at the Albuera, Leyte Police Station when he executed the affidavits on August 4, 2016 and June 21, 2017.
The ABS-CBN report further said in the August 4, 2016 affidavit, Adorco accused Espinosa and his late father, former Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa of being involved in a large-scale illegal drug trade in Bohol, Samar, Northern Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran and parts of Cebu with alleged drug lord Peter Lim and convicted drug lord Peter Co.
Adorco is facing drug raps along with Espinosa before the Justice department, which prompted him to file a counter-affidavit.
Along with his recent counter-affidavit, he reportedly attached a counter-affidavit he submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation in August 2020 where he categorically denied being Espinosa’s bodyguard and knowing some of the personalities tagged in the alleged drug operations.
In a hearing, Espinosa earlier told the Senate in 2016 that he gave de Lima drug money in Baguio City, although he retracted this allegation in his own counter-affidavit.