Bureau of Corrections, or BuCor, Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. yesterday ordered a prosecution witness in the case against former Senator Leila de Lima secured at the Minimum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison after the witness said he wanted to recant his affidavit against De Lima.
The prosecution witness, identified as Rodolfo Magleo, was transferred to the NBP Monday night.
The Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court, Branch 26, also ordered the NBP to take into its custody another witness for the prosecution, Nonito Arile, who was mentioned in a letter handed to the court as also wishing to recant his testimony against De Lima.
Hearing ongoing
During Monday’s hearing on the continuing presentation of prosecution evidence, Magleo was supposed to be presented as a witness in the trial of De Lima for the criminal violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Instead, he handed the court a letter dated 12 October which said he and Arile plan to recant their sworn affidavits.
In a letter addressed to De Lima and another accused, former Bureau of Corrections Chief Franklin Bucayu, Magleo and Arile told the former senator they were recanting their testimonies “for several reasons with the primordial objective — to help you both to be set free together with your fellow
co-accused.”