Seven convicted-witnesses against former senator Leila de Lima have manifested before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court their willingness to recant their testimonies in her remaining drug case.
In a handwritten letter dated Nov. 17 to Judge Gener Gito of the Muntinlupa City RTC, Branch 206, inmates German Agojo, Tomas Doniña, Jaime Patcho, Wu Tuan Yuan, alias Peter Co, Engelberto Durano, Jerry Pepino and Hans Anton Tan, said they intend to recant their previous statements against De Lima “in the interest of truth and justice.”
“At this point, we would like to state that our participation as witnesses in the drug cases against former DOJ Secretary De Lima was vitiated by undue compulsion and influence, and thus, any judicialstatement made by us, is void of lack of consent,” the seven prisoners said, in the letter they signed.
The inmate-witnesses alleged that before they testified, their lives were threatened, citing the stabbing incidents in the New Bilibid Prison and alleged attempts on their lives in Fort Bonifacio and Camp Aguinaldo, where they were detained prior to their transfer to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro.
The inmates asked the Muntinlupa court for permission to recall their testimonies and expressed their “sincerest apologies” to De Lima and her family.
They also pleaded that they be transferred from Sablayan to another facility.
“We no longer desire to live our lives with the knowledge that we allowed ourselves to become pawns or instruments of injustice. We wish to live a life of dignity, integrity and responsibility moving forward,” they said.
The recantation letter was attached to De Lima’s manifestation with urgent motion filed with the Muntinlupa court on Tuesday, Nov. 21, asking that the seven be transferred from the Sablayan prison to an appropriate facility of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Two other inmate-witnesses, Rodolfo Magleo and Nonilo Arile, also wrote Gito last October, expressing willingness to recant their allegations in De Lima’s remaning drug case.
De Lima was granted bail last week after almost seven years in detention. She clarified that the grant of bail had nothing to do with the recantations of convicted witnesses.
In a 69-page ruling, Judge Gito said the testimonies of the prosecution’s nine witnesses “were not able to clearly establish that there exists a conspiracy among them to commit illegal drug trading.”
Five inmate-witnesses are left whose testimonies were evaluated by the Muntinlupa court in deciding to grant De Lima bail, namely Renante Diaz, Noel Martinez, Joel Capones, Herbert Colanggo, and Jojo Baligad.