De Lima: Brains behind ‘frame-up’ known soon

MANILA, Philippines — Detained Sen. Leila de Lima expressed confidence yesterday that all those behind what she described as her “gross frame-up” will be identified soon.

She issued the statement in welcoming the counter-affidavit of self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa recanting all of his allegations against her in relation to the illegal drug trade.

She said Espinosa’s counter-affidavit “only proves the lengths (President) Duterte and his minions, inside and outside of the (Department of Justice or) DOJ, have gone to fabricate testimony and evidence against me.”

“As I have always been saying, all allegations against me invented by the Duterte machine of lies and fabrications would ultimately unravel,” De Lima said in a statement from Camp Crame, where she is detained.

She lamented that she has been languishing in jail for the past five years on the basis of testimonies of convicted criminals who, like Espinosa, were used by the DOJ “to manufacture lies about me and about crimes that I did not commit.”

De Lima said as Duterte steps down from power, “more of these convict-witnesses are only expected to come out and confess that they were intimidated, coerced, or bribed into making up the ridiculous and impossible story that I received money from the illegal drug trade.”

“I also expect them to reveal the names of Duterte’s officials who participated in this gross frame-up, so I can also finally bring these people to account for what they have done to me,” she said. – Paolo Romero