Detained alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa withdrew his claim that Senator Leila De Lima was involved in illegal drug business in New Bilibid Prison.

Kerwin Espinosa's Statement via news reporter Mike Navallo:

“Espinosa’s affidavit only proves the length the current administration has gone to fabricate testimonies and evidence against Senator De Lima” says Atty. Filibon Tacardon, De Lima’s lawyer.

Espinosa claims he was “coerced, pressured, intimidated and seriously threatened by the police. He has no other option but to invent stories for fear of his life and of his family” to make his past statements. He said before that he paid the drug money to De Lima through the Senator’s bodyguard Ronnie Dayan

Moreover, Espinosa still has an unsolved drug trafficking case before the DOJ. The complaint was filed by the NBI in 2021 using his extrajudicial confession on December 14, 2016, with the hope that Espinosa would cooperate. However, he said that the content of the December 14, 2016 affidavit he signed was not explained to him by the lawyer of his choice. Instead, he received an oral promise that the proceedings against him would be dismissed, “which turned out to be false”

His retraction was included in an affidavit filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday. “Any and all statements given during the Senate hearings, or in the form of sworn written affidavits, against Senator Leila De Lima are not true,” said Espinosa in the counter-affidavit. 

“For this, undersigned apologises to Senator De Lima,” said the affidavit.

DOJ claims that Espinosa’s retraction has no effect. Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento says to reporters “Hindi siya witness ng prosecution”

De Lima has been acquitted of one of the three cases filed against her, and has been in jail for 5 years now. 

She continues to campaign for reelection from prison, as she is part of the Robredo-Pangilinan senatorial slate.