A trial lawyer has denied allegations that suspected drug traffickers were pressured to testify against Sen. Leila De Lima, even as he cast doubts over the timing of Kerwin Espinosa recanting his testimonies against the detained lawmaker.
Ferdinand Topacio said the witnesses’ testimonies were documented and videotaped.
Topacio served as lawyer of convicted bank robber and drug lord Herbert Colanggo, one of the 18 inmates who testified about the alleged drug operations and protection racket in the NBP during De Lima’s watch as Secretary of Justice.
“As the legal counsel of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, the original complainant in the drug cases against De Lima, I know for a fact that the said cases are not dependent on Espinosa’s testimony, as he has never been a witness in the pending cases,” Topacio said.
“I can vouch that there is no pressure being brought to bear against the witnesses in the drug cases against De Lima. Their original testimonies in writing have been made under the watchful eyes of the prison authorities then, lawyers and the Public Attorney’s Office, and were videotaped to show compliance with all formalities and the absence of coercion,” he added.
Espinosa’s recantation came after he was dropped from the WPP, and after he was charged with several drug cases by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, De Lima thanked the people who expressed their support after Espinosa recanted his allegations against her.
She said the mounting calls gave her hope that the justice she had long been fighting for “was already within reach.”
“Since Kerwin Espinosa recanted all his allegations against me, the clamor for my freedom and justice is louder than ever,” she said.
After Espinosa retracted his drug allegations against De Lima in a counter-affidavit filed before the Department of Justice last April 28, supporters of De Lima renewed their calls for her immediate release from detention.
Vice presidential candidate Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, in a statement, said De Lima should be freed considering that the recent development showed that the allegations made against her were trumped up.
“Sinabi mismo ng aminadong drug lord na walang katotohanan ang mga paratang laban kay Senator Leila. Patunay na gawa-gawa ang mga ito. Napakalaking sampal sa katarungan ang mahigit limang taong pagkakapiit ni Senator Leila. Palayain na si Senator Leila, agad-agad,” he said.
Another vice presidential aspirant, Prof. Walden Bello, said he and Ka Leody De Guzman, also a presidential aspirant, had called for the “unconditional release of this long-suffering victim of a frame-up based on nothing else but (the President‘s” vindictiveness.”
Senatorial aspirants Chel Diokno, and former Representatives Teddy Baguilat and Neri Colmenares also demanded for De Lima’s freedom.
Baguilat said he hopes to share the stage with De Lima, who is also running under the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket, in the upcoming political rally with Tropang Angat.
Colmenares said “the trumped-up charges against Sen. Leila de Lima have crumbled.”