De Lima vows to continue speaking out
Sen. Leila de Lima vowed yesterday to continue speaking out against the “crooked and violent” Duterte administration as she thanked her supporters for giving her strength while in jail.
Last month, De Lima was arrested and detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City on drug charges filed by the Department of Justice.
The senator maintains all the allegations against her are baseless and politically motivated.
De Lima said her supporters’ trust and prayers during this most difficult time of her life give her strength and stability.
“This crooked governance and the violence being condoned by the Duterte regime is one reason why I continue fighting. I’m not alone in this fight. This is also the fight of millions of Filipinos seeking true justice and peace,” De Lima said in a statement in Filipino.
“If this regime continues to play blind to the real situation of our country, I’ll make sure: as long as many of our countrymen are clamoring and seeking justice for their loved ones, I won’t surrender my cause, I won’t be silent on the killings that are happening in our streets where only the poor are victimized while those influential and have connections to Malacañang are let off,” she said.
De Lima railed against what she described as blatant human rights violations in the country as well as the cover up of crimes committed by “fraternity brothers and those who funded their (members of the administration) electoral campaign, and the poisoning of our minds by the regime, which now works to spread lies.”
De Lima has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to quash her arrest order issued by Judge Juanita Guerrero of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 for allegedly abetting the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison when she was justice secretary.
The SC already held oral arguments on her case.
The senator has been issuing handwritten statements on various issues since she was detained last Feb. 24, much to the consternation of Malacañang and the DOJ.
Last week, she expressed hopes to be free before the Holy Week as she agonized on what to say to her 84-year-old mother, who does not know that she is in jail.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the few allies of De Lima in the Senate and also a vocal critic of Duterte, said yesterday the administration has a penchant for “bullying women.”
He cited the threats made last week by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to file an impeachment complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo for alleged betrayal of public trust when she made a video that was presented before a United Nations body on drugs condemning the extrajudicial killings in the country.