President Rodrigo Duterte said that detained Senator Leila de Lima and drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa would be freed from jail should Vice President Leni Robredo win as president in the May 9 elections.
“Should Leni Robredo win, De Lima will be pardoned and Espinosa.
There, you can choose,” Duterte said during a taped interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy aired on Friday.
Duterte made the statement after Espinosa, the self-confessed drug lord, and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos recanted their testimonies against the detained senator.
Both Espinosa and Ragos claimed they were coerced to make statements to implicate De Lima in the drug trade.
Espinosa initially claimed to have paid De Lima drug payout money through her bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, while Ragos claimed that he delivered cash on two occasions to De Lima’s home as instructed by a convict in 2012.
Duterte also claimed that Ragos was paid to retract his testimonies that implicated de Lima in the alleged illegal drugs trade at the New Bilibid Prison.
“Nobody will go to court to swear nothing but the truth, and then recant just like that after a few years. It’s all about money, money. There is something…” he said.
However, the President still believes that De Lima could be charged for her involvement in the illegal drug trade, adding: “The drug charges against de Lima would still prosper despite the recantations.”
“Overall, we think we can still prosper in the prosecution of De Lima,” he said.