A look at De Lima’s accusers after her final acquittal

After being acquitted in her last and final drug case, former senator Leila de Lima said her camp is looking into the possible filing of a case against former President Rodrigo Duterte, who had accused her of involvement in illegal drugs during his administration.

Asked if she was eyeing anyone else, the former senator declined to answer.

She, however, is not alone in her sentiment as Senator Risa Hontiveros also urged authorities to exact accountability against those who wrongly accused De Lima.

GMA News Online looked back on some of those who were involved in the three drug cases against the former senator, and where they are now.

TIMELINE: De Lima’s road to vindication

Rodrigo Duterte

Former President Rodrigo Duterte was the first to accuse De Lima, a vocal critic of his administration, of being involved in the illegal drug trade.

In August 2016, Duterte said he would soon release a "matrix" showing the structure of the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, with De Lima being the highest official in the structure. De Lima made fun of the matrix, saying it belonged in the garbage.

Prior to this, Duterte spoke of a senator, whose driver allegedly collected money for her during the campaign. He also linked the unnamed lawmaker to illegal drugs.

Seven years later, De Lima said it was now Duterte’s turn to face his ‘wrongdoings’ about his bloody war on drugs.

“Ito ang message ko sa dating pangulo, kay Ginoong Duterte. Kayo ngayon ang mananagot sa mga kasalanan niyo sa taong bayan. Isa lang akong biktima. Libo-libong mga Pilipino ang pinaslang nila noong nakaraang madugo at pekeng war on drugs,” De Lima said.

(This is my message to the former president, to Mr. Duterte. You must answer for your crimes against the Filipino people. I am just one victim. Thousands of Filipinos have been killed in the bloody and fake war on drugs.)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently looking into killings that transpired from November 2011 until March 2019, including those killings made by Davao Death Squad when the elder Duterte was still the mayor of Davao City before assuming presidency in June 2016, and the killings that occurred during the Duterte administration's war on drugs. The House human rights committee has also invited Duterte to appear at its hearing into the extrajudicial killings during his administration.

On Tuesday, lawyer Salvador Panelo, who served as spokesperson and chief legal counsel to Duterte, called de Lima's acquittal a "grave error."

Duterte himself has not yet publicly commented on the third and final acquittal, but in May 2023 when another of the drug cases against her was dismissed, Panelo said the former president "accepted" the decision.

Also on Tuesday, Duterte's daughter Vice President Sara Duterte said her father will run for the Senate in Eleksyon 2025.

Vitaliano Aguirre II

The Department of Justice, under Duterte's Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, filed three separate drug cases against De Lima over the illegal drug trade inside the NBP in February 2017.

De Lima previously said she was eyeing to file charges against Duterte and Aguirre over her seven-year long detention.

When De Lima was released on bail in November 2023, Aguirre said he stood by their filing of the drug charges against her but that he welcomed her release on bail, saying she had suffered enough.

Repeating that same sentiment on Monday, Aguirre also said the recent dismissal of De Lima’s last drug case by a Muntinlupa court had been “expected for a long time.”

Kerwin Espinosa

During a series of Senate hearings in 2016, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa testified that de Lima was part of the illegal drug trade inside the NBP during her stint as Justice Secretary.

He also accused De Lima of receiving a total of P8 million from him for her senatorial campaign through her former driver and security aide Ronnie Dayan.

However, in April 2022, Espinosa recanted all his allegations against De Lima, saying he was “coerced, pressured, intimidated and seriously threatened” by the police to implicate the former senator.

Espinosa’s lawyer said he was released from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Bicutan, Taguig in December 2023.

In March, the Court of Appeals ordered the return of the illegal drug trade and possession case against Espinosa to a Manila court.

Ronnie Dayan

Dayan was De Lima’s former driver and bodyguard, and her co-accused in one of her drug cases. In this case, prosecutors alleged that P10 million in Bilibid drug trade proceeds was delivered to De Lima's house in 2012.

In November 2016, Dayan told lawmakers that he received money from Kerwin Espinosa several times for De Lima. 

Six years later, in April 2022, Dayan said his statements were made “under duress” and without the benefit of the counsel.

Dayan's camp said he was already a detained prisoner of the House Justice Committee and that his liberty was "conditioned on the lies he was coerced" to tell the House Committee in his supposed involvement in the Bilibid drug trade.

In August 2022, Dayan maintained that his remarks in 2016 were not true and testified before a Muntinlupa court. 

He was acquitted along with De Lima in May 2023 and was also allowed to post bail in November 2023.

Rafael Ragos

Former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos was a witness against De Lima.

In 2016, Ragos told a Senate hearing that he delivered, along with aide Jovencio Ablen Jr., P5 million in proceeds from the illegal drug trade inside the NBP to De Lima's house in Parañaque City in 2012. 

He also testified then that the kickbacks came from Peter Co and other drug lords to support De Lima's senatorial bid in 2013.

In April 2022, six years later, Ragos recanted his statements against her, claiming he was threatened by Aguirre into making false allegations.

Ragos’ recantation was key in the acquittal of De Lima and Dayan in May 2023.

The court stated that though the prosecution was able to establish the existence of rampant illegal drug trading at the NBP, Ragos’s retraction cast reasonable doubt on De Lima and Dayan’s involvement in it.

The court said Ragos was the only one who had personal knowledge of the source of money.

Aguirre denied Ragos’ claim that he was coerced, saying he had a video taken by the Public Attorney’s Office that showed Ragos supposedly testifying freely, spontaneously, and voluntarily against De Lima.

Herbert Colangco

Convicted robber and drug dealer Herbert Colangco was also a witness against De Lima.

He testified that he would hand over P1.2 million to Corrections Bureau Director Franklin Bucayu every month. He also testified that he would hand over money to Sanchez.

In June 2022, Colangco insisted that he would not withdraw his remarks against De Lima even as other witnesses recanted their testimonies against her.

In December 2023, Colangco was one of 11 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in the De Lima case ordered transferred from the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Mindoro Occidental to the Minimum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Other inmates-witnesses

Several inmates were presented as witnesses against De Lima.

One of them was Wu Tuan Yuan, also known as Peter Co, a Chinese national who was convicted of the illegal sale and delivery of dangerous drugs.

Co had claimed that he and other inmates contributed millions of drug money for De Lima’s senatorial campaign. He also claimed that another Bilibid inmate solicited P10 million for her campaign.

In November 2023, Co was among the inmate-witnesses who claimed they were coerced into testifying against De Lima. The others were German Agojo, Tomas Doniña, Jaime Patcho, Wu Tuan Yuan aka Peter Co, Engelberto Durano, Jerry Pepino, and Hans Anton Tan.

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.

In a separate letter, witnesses Rodolfo Magleo and Nonilo Arile informed De Lima that they were recanting their testimonies.

Magleo previously claimed before lawmakers that big-time drug lords in the New Bilibid Prison were giving commissions to De Lima when she was Justice Secretary, while Arile accused De Lima of involvement in the drug trade to supposedly fund her campaign.

In December 2023, the Muntinlupa Court ordered the transfer of Agojo, Doniña, Patcho, Co, Durano, Pepino, Tan, Colangco, Noel Martinez, Arile, and Capones to the NBP Medium Security Compound.

Meanwhile, drug lords Jaybee Sebastian and Vicente Sy, who were also linked to De Lima, passed away in prison during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. — BM, GMA Integrated News