Detained former Senator Leila De Lima (file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday aired her frustration over the denial of former Senator Leila de Lima’s petition for bail as she called for an end to the “ruthless tide of injustice.”
Hontiveros pressed for the speedy trial de Lima deserves as provided for in the Constitution.
“I cannot help [but] think about all the speedy trials of other prominent individuals recently, while Leila, who brought to light the abuses of the bloody drug war under the [Rodrigo] Duterte administration, is still languishing in jail for six years and counting,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
She sounded the alarm on how testimonies from “self-serving sources” are still being considered in weighing the sole remaining drug trafficking case against de Lima.
The two other drug cases lodged against de Lima under the Duterte administration have already been dismissed.
“Many of these false witnesses have already recanted their accusations against Leila, so why is her case still caught in the incredible lies and deception woven by these drug lords?” Hontiveros wondered.
She called for an “immediate and decisive end to this cycle of oppression.”
“Stop this travesty of justice now! Again, for the sixth year in a row, this ruthless tide of injustice against Leila must stop, and the trumped-up charges immediately dropped,” the senator said.
Hontiveros urged the Filipino people, especially human rights advocates, to push back against forces that promote selective justice.
“Let us ensure that justice is not just reserved for the powerful and privileged and that in this country, justice is not just a fairytale,” she stressed.
De Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte’s bloody drug war, was arrested in 2017 and has since been detained even with no criminal conviction.
Critics have repeatedly deemed the cases against her as fabricated as they pointed out de Lima’s crucial role in investigating the alleged killings of the so-called Davao Death Squad during Duterte’s stint as Davao Ccity mayor.
De Lima later sought a Senate probe into Duterte’s war on drugs, which left thousands of drug suspects dead.
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