Palace: De Lima’s arrest not meant to silence opposition
Senator Leila de Lima. AP
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Saturday said the criminal prosecution of Sen. Leila de Lima was not intended to silence critics of President Rodrigo Duterte as claimed by allies of one of the administration’s fiercest critics.
Vice President Leni Robredo and supporters of De Lima said the senator’s arrest on drug charges was part of political persecution meant to send a “chilling message” to opponents of Mr. Duterte’s policies, particularly his war on drugs that had killed more than 7,000 people.
De Lima has claimed innocence, saying the cases against her were part of a presidential vendetta after she launched an investigation of extrajudicial killings in Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs.
Abella said De Lima’s arrest had nothing to do with opposition to Mr. Duterte.
“They can very well open their mouth and speak. What’s important is they do not break the law,” Abella said in a radio program of the government-owned Radyo ng Bayan.
“Dissent is allowed in a democratic situation and that’s what we have,” Abella said. “I think Ms. De Lima simply assumes that hers is a political process. It is not. Hers is based on a criminal situation, clear and simple.”
He said the Vice President and De Lima’s supporters should have a “more objective view” of the charges, arrest and detention of the senator.
“Everything was done objectively and with fair play,” he added.
De Lima’s lawyers questioned the haste with which the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court issued the warrant for her arrest despite their pending motion questioning its jurisdiction.
They argued that since the charges were for her alleged wrongdoing as justice secretary, the cases against her should have been filed in the Sandiganbayan after an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman, not by the justice department.
After her arrest on Friday, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea dismissed the portrayal of De Lima as a political prisoner.
“You know, it’s a criminal case filed against her. It’s not a political case which was filed against her. That’s all there is to it,” Medialdea said.
The President’s chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, said on Friday the arrest of a high official on criminal charges showed that “the majesty of the law shines triumphantly.”
“Such is the working of a democracy,” Panelo said, echoing words of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a key ally of the President.
Alvarez said De Lima’s arrest was a “victory” in the war on drugs.
“No one is above the law, not even a senator of the Republic,” Alvarez said on Thursday.
Interviewed on the anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, Abella told Radyo ng Bayan that Filipinos should listen to real patriots and nation-builders instead of someone like De Lima to remind them keep the spirit of Edsa alive.
“I doubt if hers is the kind of voice that the people need at this stage,” Abella said.
