MANILA, Philippines — Opposition Senator Leila de Lima lambasted the filing of perjury charges by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon against several human rights advocates.
In a statement from the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame where she is currently detained, De Lima condemned what she called a “desperate attempt” of the Duterte administration to “silence dissent.”
“Sa mata ng batas ni Rodrigo Duterte, isang paglabag ang ipagtanggol ang karapatang pantao kahit ng mga pinakamahihirap nating kabababayan,” the senator said.’
(In the eyes of the laws of (President) Rodrigo Duterte, any defense of the human rights of the poor is a violation)
“In his desperate attempt to silence dissent, he has once again blatantly weaponized the law against those who dare stand up against his atrocious policies,” she added.
Esperon filed the charges against Edita Burgos, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, Karapatan members Gabriela Krista Dalena, Elisa Tita Lubi, Roneo Clamor, Jose Mari Calleung and Wilfredo Ruazol, Gabriela secretary-general Joan May Salvador, Gabriela member Gertrudes Libang, and Emma Cupin of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) before the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 37.
All those who were charged have posted bail of P18,000 each ahead of an arrest warrant to be issued by the court except for Palabay, who is now Geneva coordinating with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and Cupin.
“Under Duterte’s tyrannical manipulations, human rights defenders are treated as criminals by our justice system while violators are given full protection,” De Lima went on.
“Binaboy na ng husto ni Duterte at ng kanyang mga alipores ang Rule of Law, mula sa paninira sa mga kritiko, pag-imbento ng mga kaso, pagkanlong sa mga tunay na kriminal, at pagpatay sa sarili nilang mamamayan,” she added.
(Duterte and his minions mangled the Rule of Law from damaging the reputation of critics, inventing cases, sheltering the real criminals and killing his own countrymen).
“Saan na makakakuha ng proteksyon ang ordinaryong mamamayan kung ang ating batas ang mismong ginagamit na armas upang usigin ang mga nagsusulong ng makabuluhang pagbabago?” she further said.
(Where will ordinary citizens seek protection if the law itself is being weaponized to persecute those who are pushing for change?).
De Lima also warned of what she claimed would be “intensified attacks against democratic discourse and legitimate dissent.”
This as the Duterte administration “employs the state machinery against dissenters, it will also use the full force of this machinery to pursue its murderous anti-people policies,” the senator said.
“So now is not the time to stop, rest and be cowed,” she added.