FORMER Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) officer-in-charge and deputy director for intelligence of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Rafael Marcos Ragos has admitted to making up lies to link former Justice secretary now Senator Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade.
In his four-page affidavit signed on April 3, 2022, Ragos said he was ordered by then Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to manufacture false information against De Lima and corroborate the statement of former intelligence agent Jovencio Ablen Jr.
“As far as I know and based on my professional relationship with Sec. De Lima, she is incapable of doing anything illegal, much less engage in the illegal drug trade or accept money from Bilibid inmates. All of my allegations to the contrary in my affidavits and House and court testimonies are all fiction, false, and fabricated,” the affidavit stated.
“I was forced to execute the above affidavits and deliver the above House and court testimonies against Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan due to threats of being detained myself for the crime of engaging in the illegal drug trade that I did not commit,” it added.
In September 2016, Ragos executed an affidavit saying that he, together with Ablen, delivered two P5 million to De Lima’s residence in November and December 2012.
He said the money came from convicted drug personalities, including Peter Co.
Ragos also said in a supplemental affidavit that he collected money from Jorge Goff on behalf of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) caterer, prison inmate and German Agoho for his application for pardon for the benefit of De Lima and his security aide/driver Dayan.
He said the money, as told by De Lima, will be used for her candidacy in the 2013 elections.
Ragos testified before the Muntinlupa regional trial court for the drug charges against De Lima and Dayan.
He said none of these were true, noting that the only time he went to De Lima’s house was when he and his wife helped her to decorate her house for Christmas.
Ragos said in September 2016, a week before he testified before the House inquiry into the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP, he was called to a meeting by Aguirre in a hotel in Pasay City where the plan against De Lima was ironed out.
“During said meeting, then Sec. Aguirre interrogated and coerced me to admit something that did not happen. He escorted me to another room where Ablen was, and they showed me a copy of a statement. I asked them: ‘Ano yan?’ Ablen responded: ‘Ginawa namin ni Esmeralda yan, may kopya sya n'yan,’” he said.
“When I asked Sec. Aguirre what they want me to do, he said: ‘Mag-execute ka ng affidavit mag-corroborate ka sa statement ni Alben, kung hindi, alam mo naman ang mangyayari,’” he added.
Ragos was a co-accused of De Lima and Dayan in one of the illegal drug trading cases filed before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court. He was arrested on February 17, 2017.
De Lima was arrested on February 24 of the same year. One of the three charges against De Lima had already been dismissed by the Muntinlupa court.
Ablen testified against Ragos, who implicated him to illegal drugs operations.
In order for the cases against him to be dropped, which will lead to his release, Ragos said he was told by Aguirre to make more lies to further pin down De Lima.
He said personalities, including former Justice undersecretary Raymund Macate, made his life difficult during his detention.
Ragos said while in trial, Prosecutor Laurence Joel Taliping told him to testify properly as he was being monitored by the Malacañang.
He said he had no choice but to do as he was told, as he feared for his and his family’s life.
“I am executing this affidavit freely, voluntarily, truthfully, and without any mental reservation whatsoever, in order to absolve Sec. De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, who are completely innocent, from entirely false and absolutely fabricated criminal charges,” said Ragos.
“I beg the forgiveness of these innocent persons who suffered from my transgression of bearing false witness against them. I hope they find it in their heart to do so, knowing that I was only forced to transgress against them to save my own life,” he added.
Last week, self-confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa also admitted that the allegations he made against De Lima, particularly on her links to the illegal drug trade inside the NBP and in accepting millions worth of drug money from him to fund her senatorial race, were all lies, saying that he was “coerced, pressured, intimidated and seriously threatened by the police” to make such a statement.
De Lima, one of the staunchest critics of President Rodrigo Duterte, particularly his drug war, launched in July 2016 a probe into the alleged extrajudicial killing amid the administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs.
She presented Edgar Matobato, who claims to be a former member of the “Davao Death Squad,” which he said has links to Duterte, the former mayor of the city. It was repeatedly denied by Malacañang and Duterte himself.
The said probe got the international spotlight on Duterte’s bloody drug war. (SunStar Philippines)