FILE PHOTO Senator Leila de Lima
MANILA, Philippines — Voting for candidates in the 2022 national elections who either backed or implemented policies that led to extrajudicial killings (EJKs) is the biggest sin anyone can do to the country, reelectionist Senator Leila de Lima said.
In a statement, De Lima said that the people must move on from President Rodrigo Duterte’s promises, most of which remain unfulfilled over five years into his term, in choosing their next set of candidates in the upcoming polls.
Hence, the senator advised Filipinos not to vote for people belonging to what she called “criminal organizations” responsible for the alleged state-sponsored killings.
“[Electing officials who have a penchant for killings is] the biggest mistake and greatest sin we can do to our nation,” De Lima said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Kailangan nang maka-move on ng ating bayan mula sa mapang-abusong Chief Executive na noon ay nakamit ang boto ng mamamayan sa pamamagitan ng mga matatamis na pangakong ngayon ay pakong-pako na,” she added.
Aside from that, De Lima — a staunch critic of President Duterte and his administration — said that Filipinos must also not vote for people who accumulated “ill-gotten gains” at the expense of the public.
“Let this breed of outgoing leaders proceed to be ex-leaders, along with their penchant for extrajudicial killings and of accumulating ill-gotten gains at the expense of our people’s continued suffering,” she said. “Let them face the wrath of justice and suffer the consequences of their atrocious deeds.”
Duterte, like De Lima, has decided to vie for a seat in the Senate’s 19th Congress. Campaigning, however, will be a challenge for the lady senator as she remains detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center for drug-related charges.
De Lima claimed that the charges against her were all trumped up by the administration, with allegations that she allowed the supposed drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to flourish while she was then Justice secretary of the previous administration. NBP is under the care of the Bureau of Corrections, an attached agency of the Department of Justice.
She claimed that her arrest is merely due to her opposition of the President’s approach to the drug problem, and because of her moves to investigate EJK accusations from when Duterte was Davao City mayor, up to the time he was elected president.
Prior to that, she had also investigated the killings at Duterte’s turf in Davao City when she was still chairman of the Commission on Human Rights.
On the other hand, Duterte claimed that De Lima is not a prisoner of conscience, but a prisoner of lust.
De Lima was also one of the first individuals to warn the public about a possible bloody anti-drug campaign when the President took office in 2016 — basing it on her experience as a former human rights CHR chairperson.
As of September 2021, official government data shows that almost 6,200 drug suspects have died during legitimate police operations, which means over 1,000 dead individuals due to the drug war every year under Duterte’s term.
However, some groups have claimed that the actual death toll is far larger, ranging from a number between 12,000 to 30,000. These issues have also led the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber to allow the Office of the Prosecutor to do a full-blown investigation of allegations that Duterte committed the crime against humanity of wide-scale murder.
In the 57-page request made by former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, she maintained that based on information gathered by her office, there is reason to believe that state actors have killed thousands of civilians under the war against illegal drugs
She also noted that the information suggests that vigilante-style killings were perpetrated by police officers themselves, or other private individuals hired by authorities.
Malacañang and Duterte however have refused to acknowledge the ICC’s jurisdiction over the country, saying several times that they would not cooperate with the probe.