Witness recants drug allegations vs De Lima

MANILA, Philippines — Another government witness against detained Sen. Leila de Lima has recanted allegations that she received money from the illegal drug trade when she was justice secretary.

Marcelo Adorco, said to be the bodyguard and driver of self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, retracted his allegations against De Lima.

In his counter-affidavits filed separately before the Department of Justice on May 24, 2022 and Aug. 28, 2020, copies of which were made public yesterday by De Lima’s camp, Adorco said he was forced to make the accusations for fear of his life.

“There’s no truth to all of my allegations in my affidavit where I admitted I was connected to the illegal drug trade and I implicated Kerwin Espinosa and other people. The truth is, I was only forced to sign the affidavit out of fear for my life and safety,” Adorco said in Filipino.

He said the affidavit was crafted inside a police station in Leyte upon the orders of a ranking official.

Adorco also denied knowing De Lima personally.

Filibon Tacardon, lawyer for De Lima, welcomed Adorco’s retraction, saying it highlighted the pattern of witnesses admitting to being threatened and coerced to tell lies and pin down people, including the senator.

“This reflects what we have long said, that the drug cases filed against Senator De Lima were fabricated by people who have been intimidated into telling lies,” Tacardon declared. “The truth is coming out so we call on the Department of Justice to dismiss the charges against her.”

Adorco said he had no personal knowledge about the alleged meeting between De Lima and Espinosa in Baguio City.

“I don’t know Lovely Impal, Peter Co, Peter Lim and Secretary Leila de Lima. I have never talked to them. The picture of Espinosa and Hazel Magno with De Lima was obtained from Facebook and was only given to me by a police officer when my affidavit was made,” he said.

Last April, Espinosa recanted his previous allegations against De Lima, saying he had no drug dealings with her.

Former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos and De Lima’s former driver Ronnie Dayan also retracted their allegations against the senator. They claimed they were coerced by key government officials of the Duterte administration.

De Lima, who has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame, expressed hope that more witnesses would come out and speak the truth to help prove her innocence in what she says are the trumped-up drug charges filed against her. – Ralph Edwin Villanueva