US Senate staff Chris Homan pays former Senator Leila de Lima a visit to check her living conditions. | Photo from PNP
MANILA, Philippines — A team of US Senate staff visited former Senator Leila de Lima to check on her living conditions inside her quarters at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center, the law enforcement agency said Thursday.
According to a statement from the PNP, Chris Homan, the senior adviser on national security and foreign policy of US Democrat of Senator Dick Durbin, visited De Lima at 9:40 a.m.
His visit and three other staff members were allowed by a court order issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 256 and 204.
PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. welcomed Homan, before he was brought to the PNP Grandstand for briefing and documentation, followed by frisking and depositing personal items before the entry at the PNP Custodial Center.
“They were briefed by PLtCol Larry Gabion, Chief of Custodial Center, particularly on the adjusted security measures imposed at the facility following the botched escape attempt by three detained members of the Abu Sayyaf Group last October 9, 2022,” the PNP said.
PNP said it also made sure to inform Homan that the agency regularly monitors De Lima’s health condition and that it is her decision to remain at the custodial facility despite offers of transferring.
Currently, De Lima is confined in separate living quarters where she has her own basic furniture and fixtures.
The PNP said the visit — coordinated by the US Embassy in Manila and duly approved by the PNP — concluded at around 10:20 a.m.
De Lima has been detained since February 24, 2017, less than a year after President Rodrigo Duterte became the president of the Philippines, for drug charges which her camp said were “trumped up.”
She recently got involved in a hostage situation in early October after three other detainees of the PNP Custodial Facility in Camp Crame, Quezon City attempted to escape.