PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Friday, October 14, 2022, that he will not interfere in any of the affairs related to criminal charges being faced by former senator Leila de Lima amid calls for her release following the hostage crisis inside the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame over the weekend.
Marcos said he trusts the country’s justice system and that he will let it take its own course.
"I think urging prosecutors to do one thing or another is interfering. So, that’s why I have said we are very, very clear that we have three departments of government at siguro naman hindi natin dapat, pabayaan natin, hindi naman natin pinagdududahan ang proseso, e (let's leave it to them. we don't doubt the process)," he said.
"I think the process is there. We are continuing to monitor what is going on, the extent," he added.
De Lima was taken hostage by one of the three inmates who were trying to escape the PNP Custodial Center on Sunday morning. The three detainees, all members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, were killed during the incident.
Marcos said following the incident, he called De Lima and asked her if she wanted to be transferred to another facility.
"I wanted to ask her if she feels safe because if she doesn't feel safe, sabi ko sa kanya ililipat ka namin and she said, sabi naman niya hindi naman siguro kailangan (I told her that we will transfer her and she said it was not necessary)," he said.
"So she never asked me to do anything, 'yan lang 'yung tweet niya. What she tweeted yesterday that’s the extent of it. That’s the extent of our discussion with the former senator," he added.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, De Lima said she will never ask Marcos to interfere with courts, but she urged him to order the justice department to “stop blocking the testimony of the recanting prosecution witness Rafael Ragos.”
“And for them to stop presenting obviously perjured witnesses like Herbert Colangco. You can reverse the grievous wrongs inflicted on me by your predecessor. Please, Mr. President. Salamat po,” said De Lima.
De Lima has been facing charges over her alleged involvement in illegal drugs while serving as justice secretary from 2010 to 2015.
Ragos, former Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) officer-in-charge and deputy director for intelligence of the National Bureau of Investigation and one of the key witnesses in one of De Lima’s drug charges, earlier issued an affidavit where he admitted making up lies to link her to the illegal drugs trade.
In September 2016, Ragos executed an affidavit saying that he together with former intelligence agent Jovencio Ablen Jr. delivered two P5 million to De Lima’s residence in November and December 2012.
He claimed that the money came from convicted drug personalities, including Peter Co.
Ragos said he made the statement as ordered by then justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre who denied the claims. (SunStar Philippines)