The Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) on Sunday said the vital witnesses in the drug trafficking case against outgoing Senator Leila de Lima “remain solid and none of them will backtrack or recant their testimonies.”
According to CCW national president Diego Magpantay, he and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, one of the private complainants in the cases against De Lima are “closely coordinating” with the prosecution panel handling the case.
They have been assured “that the witnesses who witnessed first-hand the activities of De Lima regarding the Bilibid drug trade – namely Herbert Colanggo, Noel Martinez, Jose Pepino, Jesus Durano, and many others – have shown no indication of wavering in their commitment to stick to the truth in the ongoing drug trial.”
Magpantay also called on incoming Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla to “resist all improper pressures, both from within and without the country, to go easy on De Lima.”
“The imprisonment of De Lima, the jurisdiction of the courts trying her, and the validity of the charges against her have all been upheld up to the Supreme Court, and no one, least of all foreigners who know nothing about our justice system, has the right to question the workings of our local justice system in an attempt to influence the outcome of the trial in favor of De Lima,” he said.
The CCW also bewailed the “relentless media spin and disinformation lately being peddled” by the camp of De Lima in a “vain effort to prejudice the case” of the government against her, “erroneously thinking that the next administration can be misled into getting her off the hook.”