Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 24) — The camp of Leila de Lima is seeking again outright case dismissal, immediate release, and bail after key witness Rafael Ragos recanted his previous allegations against the former senator.
The supplemental omnibus motion for Criminal Case 17-165 was filed on Feb. 23 through De Lima’s lawyer Teddy Rigoroso, but the copy was released to the media on Feb. 24, coinciding with her sixth year in detention. Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, former driver and alleged illegal drug money bagman of De Lima, is the co-accused.
“Given her innocence, as now plainly revealed in Ragos’s 30 April 2022 Affidavit, freely and voluntarily executed, affirmed in open court and subjected to, and hurdled, the crucibles of lengthy-cross-examination, accused De Lima must now be spared from further inconvenience, expense, pain, anxiety and the ignominy of prolonged trial proceedings through outright dismissal of the instant case,” the supplemental motion read.
“She has suffered enough, not the least of all barely surviving a hostage-taking incident that almost cost her life,” it added.
READ: De Lima recounts ‘near-death’ hostage-taking incident
“At the very least, herein Accused should be granted her constitutional right to bail in light of the retraction of the only testimony offered by the Prosecution that supposedly directly links her to the offense charged.”
‘7’: ‘contentWidth’: ‘fit-content’ ’embedCode’: ‘
The camp of Leila de Lima has filed a supplemental omnibus motion for outright dismissal, immediate release, and/or bail ad cautelam after key witness Rafael Ragos recanted his previous allegations against the former senator. | @JeloMantaring
Related: https://t.co/uVXk9rSLAX pic.twitter.com/73cKDQAoqV
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) February 24, 2023
