FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte said he will leave it to the public whether the acquittal of former Sen. Leila De Lima is morally right.
“As for me, I leave it to the public, I will not ask about her character,” said Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
‘Let Filipinos be the judge’, this is what former President Duterte said in his “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” program with Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy on SMNI, following the acquittal of former Sen. Leila de Lima in her second drug case.
It can be remembered that Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 acquitted De Lima and her co-accused, former driver and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan on the grounds of, “reasonable doubt”, in the case of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. This is also after the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer in charge Rafael Ragos retracted the allegations he made against De Lima.
In his previous statement, Ragos said he personally delivered P5 million worth of drug money to De Lima’s house for her 2012 senatorial bid.
But the DOJ panel of prosecutors said that Ragos’ refusal was not enough to destroy his original testimony in which he swore in front of judges and had undergone thorough cross-examinations.
This also adds to the evidence presented in the court against De Lima and said that it has an ‘element of crime’ and involvement of the accused.
Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and SMNI anchor Atty. Salvador Panelo, first stated that although he respects the court’s decision, its move to acquit De Lima is still wrong.
“First of all, two people testified that a total of P10 million was accepted— twice. Now, there are two witnesses, one witness recanted [his testimony], and that was [their grounds for] a “reasonable doubt”, but how is that possible when there’s still one witness who did not [repudiate]?
“No witness does not tell the truth. Secondly, the witness who recanted [his words] said he was threatened, but it has not been proven that he was threatened. So why did the court give importance to the recanting— when the reason for his recanting was not approved?”
“What was approved was your voluntary testimony and you’ve been repeating that, even outside the court. [It was said] in the Senate, Congress, in statements, and other platforms,” said Atty. Salvador Panelo.
Former President Duterte also has something to say about De Lima’s acquittal and challenged her to run for elections to prove if she truly has a good moral character.
“She already displayed her whole character, even before the drug issue.”
“As I’ve said, if you think that she is really good of good moral character, competent and everything. If she runs for public office as mayor, councilor, senator or president then vote for her it would be a vindication of what you believe her to be. So that’s on all of you, and I won’t argue about that anymore. I’m already done.”
“But if you believe her and she opts to run for public office. You have seen it all. Even before the drug issues, you saw her, you saw the X-rated— Tell me if [she] is deserving of being even as a barangay councilor,” Duterte said.
