SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA'S STATEMENT ON THE ARREST WARRANT ON ALLEGED DRUG CHARGES ISSUED BY MUNTINLUPA CITY RTC BRANCH 205

The latest issuance of a warrant of arrest against me by the RTC of Muntinlupa, Branch 205 will of course be contested by my lawyers. A motion for reconsideration will be filed on the ground that there is no probable cause and the prosecution's case is extremely weak, the weakest among the three (3) trumped-up drug charges, especially after the person the government has identified as my link to the commission of the offense charged, my co-accused in this particular case, already executed a statement denying my involvement.

My accusers say that Mr. Jose Adrian Dera alias Jad Dera is a nephew and an aide of mine. I do not know him at all. Dera himself already denied any relationship or connection to me whatsoever.

I continue to have faith in the judiciary. In the process of the prosecution of my cases, I am optimistic that the handling judges will more and more realize the unreliability of the witnesses against me, as well as the incredibility of their stories. In the end, all of these so-called witnesses will be proven to have been lying all along, or have simply been threatened to falsely testify against me.

The truth will still come out in the end. In the meantime, I will continue to exhaust legal remedies to fight my illegal arrest and detention.

Muli, inosente po ako sa lahat ng mga paratang nila sa akin.