' Another witness recants claim vs. jailed De Lima ' A key witness in the drug case against Senator Leila de Lima on Monday retracted his testimony and accused former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of coercing him to testify against--- Read more👇
Rafael Ragos, former deputy director for intelligence at the National Bureau of Investigation , signed a sworn statement Saturday disavowing his earlier claim that he personally delivered P5 million to Ronnie Dayan, De Lima’s bodyguard at the time, at her residence in Parañaque City in November and December 2012.
In his testimony, Ragos said the money came from a convicted drug lord, Peter Co, and another Bilibid inmate, Hans Tan, had told him it was De Lima’s cut in the proceeds from the drug trade.“Hans Tan never called to order me to deliver any money to Ronnie Dayan and Secretary De Lima that came from Peter Co as their share in the illegal drug trade. Even if he did that, I will never follow the orders of a mere Bilibid inmate, knowing it to be illegal,” he said.
“During said meeting, then Secretary Aguirre interrogated and coerced me to admit something that did not happen. He escorted me to another room…and they showed me a statement,” Ragos said. Ragos said he was coerced into giving false testimony at the House of Representatives under the threat of being detained for the same crime, which he said he did not commit.“In order to be dropped from the Information in Criminal Case No.
De Leon said “the truth is starting to come out” and challenged the Department of Justice to “do the right thing.