Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
“If the loss of my freedom is the price I have to pay for standing up against the butchery of the Duterte regime, then it is a price I am willing to pay,” Senator Leila de Lima said on Friday.
“But they are mistaken if they think my fight ends here. It has only begun,” the senator added.
De Lima issued the statement following the filing of charges against her at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court in connection with her alleged involvement in illegal drugs when she was still Justice Secretary.
READ: DOJ files drug raps against De Lima
She said her lawyers were already on top of the situation and would file the corresponding motions as soon as the cases were raffled to a specific branch.
“I have long prepared myself to be the first political prisoner under this regime, because the criminal charges and prosecution are nothing less than a politically motivated act by the Duterte regime to clamp down on any vocal opposition against its support for a policy of EJK in dealing with suspected criminals,” the senator said.
READ: De Lima: Duterte part of plot to arrest, jail me
It was De Lima who initiated the Senate probe on alleged rise in extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country since President Rodrigo Duterte’s assumption in office last June.
She was later ousted as chair of the Senate committee on justice that investigated the killings and was replaced by Senator Richard Gordon.
“Perhaps my looming imprisonment based on false charges filed against me by the DOJ (Department of Justice), while Janet Lim Napoles’ release is being supported by the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) is the wakeup call that our country needs,” the senator said.
Napoles, alleged mastermind of the “pork barrel” scam, was charged and detained for plunder when De Lima was the DOJ chief.
“Change has, indeed, come and it has come to devour our sense of justice and morality — where right is turned to wrong, and wrong is made right,” the senator said.
Despite what she described as “fascist methods employed by this fascist regime,” De Lima said she would continue to fight her battle and “wage our own war for human rights and democracy.”
After all, the senator believes that in the end, justice would prevail and that she would be vindicated.
De Lima has repeatedly denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade in the country. IDL/rga