Espinosa recants P8 million drug payoff to De Lima

MANILA, Philippines — Self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa yesterday retracted his testimony during Senate hearings in 2016, which implicated detained Sen. Leila de Lima in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison when she was secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a counter-affidavit subscribed before the DOJ, Espinosa recanted his statement that he gave P8 million in drug payoffs to De Lima through her former driver Ronnie Dayan.

Espinosa alleged that Dayan called him in August 2015 to solicit money for the campaign kitty of De Lima in exchange for protecting his drug dealings.

Espinosa said his claims against De Lima during the Senate hearings or in the form of sworn affidavits are not true.

He said he had no drug dealings with De Lima and has not given her money at any given time.

“My testimony was the result of pressure, coercion, intimidation and threats from the police who instructed me to implicate the senator in the illegal drug trade,” Espinosa’s affidavit read.

He apologized to De Lima.

Last February, the DOJ reported that Espinosa had been dropped from the government’s witness protection program.

He was transferred from the National Bureau of Investigation custody to the Bureau of Jail Management Penology facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

De Lima, who is being held at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame, has described the drug charges filed against her as political persecution.

In a Viber message sent to Senate reporters, De Lima’s lawyer Filibon Tacardon said his client believed that the truth would come out.

DOJ Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento clarified that Espinosa was not a witness in the drug cases filed against De Lima before the Muntinlupa court.

“He is not a prosecution witness so his recantation would not have any effect on the drug charges De Lima is facing,” Malcontento said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe