‘To my oppressors: You can never crucify Truth’ — De Lima
‘VINDICATION’ Leila de Lima’s supporters outside the Muntinlupa court celebrate her legal victory. —RICHARD A. REYES
“Answered prayers! A glorious day! The beginning of my vindication.”
This was how former Sen. Leila de Lima celebrated her legal victory on Friday, after the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 cleared her of involvement in the illegal drug trade at New Bilibid Prison.
It was the second acquittal for De Lima, also a former justice secretary and Commission on Human Rights chair, after another Muntinlupa RTC branch dismissed a similar drug complaint against her in 2021.
Detained since February 2017, she still faces a third illegal drugs case, also in Muntinlupa.
“May I say this to my oppressors: You can never crucify Truth. You cannot permanently stall Justice,” an emotional De Lima said, addressing the crowd as a flank of police officers led her to a waiting van that would return her to her detention cell at Camp Crame.
De Lima said she had “no doubt from the very beginning” that she would be acquitted “based on the merits and the strength of my innocence.”
Her release “from more than six years of persecution draws nearer,” the former senator said, adding that the “most painful effect” of her detention was never having seen many relatives and friends.
EU, Amnesty messages
She asked supporters to continue praying that her bail petition be granted in her third and last drug case.
Malacañang described De Lima’s acquittal as proof “that the justice system (is) working.”
Speaking to reporters, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the public should respect the court ruling which he said was “another victory” for De Lima.
Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla similarly called the acquittal a “prevalence of the rule of law … (which) shows that the independence of the Judiciary is a basic foundation of our democratic system.”
The European Union also sent de Lima its congratulations, with its Ambassador to the Philippines, Luc Veron, saying that it had been “closely following the proceedings against the former senator.”
Several EU representatives have visited De Lima in her cell, the latest being Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore in March.
Quick resolution
“We hope for a quick resolution of the remaining case against the former senator, while ensuring the highest standards of rule of law and human rights. We are looking forward to a quick decision on Attorney De Lima’s motion for bail,” Gilmore said.
In a statement, Amnesty International interim deputy regional director for research Montse Ferrer said De Lima’s acquittal was a “long-overdue step towards justice,” and that it was now “time to provide adequate reparations for the human rights violations she has suffered.”
Human Rights Watch also slammed the “bogus” charges, and described them as part of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “vindictive campaign to destroy (De Lima) for daring to investigate the human rights abuses he committed while (he was) mayor of Davao City.”
Minority lawmakers in Congress welcomed their former colleague’s acquittal and expressed hope that De Lima would be similarly cleared in the third charge.
“Justice is finally prevailing,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said, adding that she anticipates De Lima’s “full vindication and eventual liberty.”
‘False narrative’
Said Hontiveros: “The false narrative and web of lies that led to her imprisonment is finally being undone. The real crime has always been her arrest.” De Lima, Hontiveros said, was put in jail “only for speaking out for the truth … May this (ruling) pave the road to justice for all victims of the war on drugs and sound the death knell for this inhuman policy.”
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III congratulated the Muntinlupa City court “for being true to its mandate to dispense justice without fear or favor by strictly following the evidence.”
Former Senate President and Justice Secretary Franklin Drilon said he admired De Lima for continuing to fight tirelessly in the past six years. “This proves what we lawyers call ‘justice delayed, justice denied.’ She has been suffering for six years and the truth came out only now, even if we knew from the start that the allegations are baseless and fabricated in order to get back at our former colleague,” Drilon said.
Despite the acquittal, “(t)he fight for justice, for the truth continues. Free Leila!” former Sen. Francis Pangilinan said.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, meanwhile, tweeted: “Freedom is near, Sen. Leila. Redemption and vindication are next.”
Opposition ‘needs her’
In the House, opposition lawmaker and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, president of the Liberal Party, said that “after having been acquitted in two of the three contrived drug cases. Sen. Leila de Lima must be freed on bail in the last case still pending trial. She deserves full exoneration and final liberation.’’
“It’s about time justice has been served,” said human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, who attended Friday’s promulgation. House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. France Castro, called for De Lima’s speedy release, saying the opposition “needs her in the front lines in the fight against the forces of tyranny and disinformation, who are again trying to trample on the Filipino people’s rights.”
The Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), a broad coalition of members of the academe, legal profession and other local and international nongovernment organizations, also welcomed the court decision, calling it “a testament of fairness, equity and credibility of our judiciary and its fealty to the Rule of Law.”
In his thanksgiving Mass on Friday, activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes alluded to Judge Joseph Abrahan Alcantara of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204, who ruled to acquit De Lima.
“Today, one judge made a difference. And we’re waiting for other judges to also make a difference,” Reyes said.
