Lacson bucks proposal to release Leila
Sen. Panfilo Lacson rejected proposals for the Senate to call for the release of Sen. Leila de Lima.
Earlier this week, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, in a privilege speech, urged his colleagues to push for the immediate release of De Lima, who has been in detention for over six months after being charged with alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade.
“No way. We should all understand and respect our criminal justice system. The Senate cannot and will not interfere with the courts that have jurisdiction over Senator De Lima’s drug cases,” Lacson said.
“Having said that, the judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative branches. The same goes true, and even worse, in the case of foreign organizations and groups that are calling for her immediate release,” Lacson added.
A delegation from the Women’s Caucus of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) recently visited De Lima at her detention cell in Camp Crame, Quezon City and called on Philippine authorities to immediately release the senator by withdrawing the drug trafficking charges against her.
“The charges do not stand even a cursory legal scrutiny, having been based on conflicting testi- monies of criminals who were subsequently absolved of drug charges after they agreed to be prosecution witnesses,” said Emily Lau, a former legislator who played a crucial role in Hong Kong’s umbrella movement.
“Clearly, this is a case of political persecution resulting from Senator De Lima’s staunch opposition to extrajudicial killings, and her continuing detention is a travesty of justice. At the very least, she should be allowed to post bail, given the weakness of the evidence against her,” she added.
Lacson said that these international organizations have “no business in arrogantly asking our president to release Senator De Lima.”
“That’s totally uncalled for,” he said.
In a statement, De Lima expressed gratitude to the visit by the leaders of the CALD and the many people who continue to vouch for her integrity.
“Expressing concern over my continued detention, they believe, and rightly so, that I was detained on politicallymotivated and trumped-up charges. They firmly hold the view that such travesty of justice is unprecedented here in the Philippines, which has long been considered a model for democracy in Asia,” De Lima said.
She said that the CALD leaders also discussed with her the very dubious moves against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
“They also noted how our democratic institutions, including the media, are now being threatened under the growing authoritarian rule of Duterte,” De Lima said.