De Lima asks Muntinlupa court to bring in 7 inmates who made false testimonies against her

Former senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday asked a Muntinlupa court to bring in the seven witnesses in her drug cases who claimed that they were coerced into testifying against her.

In a four-page manifestation filed before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206, De Lima said she received a letter signed by German Agojo, Tomas Doniña, Jaime Patcho, Wu Tuan Yuan aka Peter Co, Engelberto Durano, Jerry Pepino, and Hans Anton Tan.

In their letter, the inmates said their participation as witnesses in De Lima’s drug cases “was vitiated by undue compulsion and influence” and that any statement they made was void due to lack of consent.

They said that before they participated, they faced “unimaginable threats” to their lives. They said that proof of these threats were “stabbing incidents that transpired at the NBP premises in September 2016.”

According to the letter, the seven men said the lives of their families were also compromised.

Fearing for their safety and security, they requested to be transferred from the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro.

Due to these circumstances, De Lima asked the RTC to bring in the seven inmates before the court so they could confirm the veracity of their claims.

She also sought their transfer from Sablayan to a facility of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, subject to the authenticity and truthfulness of their letter.

Last week, De Lima was released on bail in her remaining drug case before the Muntinlupa RTC 206 after almost seven years in detention.

A vocal critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, De Lima was accused of benefiting from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) during her stint as secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

De Lima’s first acquittal came in February 2021 when Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 205 junked one of her three cases. On May 12, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 acquitted her and Ronnie Dayan, her co-accused and former bodyguard.