Philippine court orders arrest of prominent critic of Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine court Thursday ordered the arrest of a senator who had been the leading domestic critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his bloody anti-drug campaign, on charges she took bribes from imprisoned drug traffickers.
The senator, Leila de Lima, has denied the charges, saying they amount to political persecution. After spending several hours at her Senate office, where she has immunity from arrest, de Lima said Thursday night she would go home to say goodbye to her family.
“I have no intention to flee or hide,” she said, her voice catching. “I will face these charges.”
De Lima has been a fierce opponent of Duterte’s crackdown on users and sellers of narcotics, under which thousands of people have been killed by police or by vigilantes since Duterte took office in June.
Last year, a Senate panel led by de Lima heard testimony from a professed hit man, Edgar Matobato, who said he belonged to a death squad that had been overseen by Duterte when Duterte was mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippines.
Soon after that testimony, de Lima was removed from her post as chairwoman of that Senate panel. Another committee, in the Philippine House of Representatives, soon began hearings at which imprisoned drug kingpins testified they had given de Lima bribes through her driver and bodyguard, Ronnie Dayan. Dayan testified he had collected the money on the senator’s behalf.
Embarrassing details of a romantic affair between Dayan and de Lima were also disclosed at the hearings, in what the senator called part of a campaign by the Duterte administration to harass and silence her.
The charges against de Lima were brought by the Philippine Justice Department, which is headed by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, a fraternity brother of Duterte who presided over the House hearings. The Justice Department accuses de Lima of using the drug money for her campaign for Senate last year, and that the inmates who gave it to her received special privileges in return.
Duterte’s chief legal adviser, Salvador Panelo, said Thursday “the law of karma finally caught up” with de Lima. “She should welcome this development herself, as she is now given the opportunity to refute any and all the allegations and/or evidence to be presented by the prosecution against her,” Panelo said. “This is where the real battle begins, and not in the media that she relishes to use against the president.”