De Lima supporters, detractors glare at each other outside court

Sen. Leila de Lima waves at her supporters outside the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. (Photo by NINO JESUS ORBETA/Philippine Daily Inquirer)

“Leila Laban. Hindi pa tapos ang EDSA. May EDSA pa.”

(“Fight Leila. EDSA’s not over yet. There’s still EDSA.”)

A supporter of Sen. Leila De Lima shouted at the closed tinted window of the police coaster, hoping that the beleaguered lawmaker inside could somehow hear him.

His plea cut across the chorus of his companions’ mantra of “One for Leila” and “Stop political prosecutors.”

Several minutes past 10 a.m. on Friday, before the senator was brought by his escorts from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City, De Lima’s supporters and her detractors, mostly from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), picketed the main entrance of the Muntinlupa City Hall of Justice.

Although both groups practically occupied the same space, they limited themselves to glares, flashing opposing streamers.

The VACC tarpaulin streamers said: “Ikulong na iyan (Jail her),” written below a picture of the senator behind bars.

The streamers of the “One for Leila” group said: “Pray for Leila” and “Stop political prosecution.”

Regina Mabalatan of the One for Leila Coalition said they were there to protest De Lima’s “illegal arrest.” She said that they have been De Lima supporters since the campaign period.

“How can there be a warrant if there is no concrete evidence?” Mabalatan said in Filipino. “They have fake witnesses and evidence and testimony from convicted drug lords.”

“This (De Lima’s arrest) is being done out of revenge by the Duterte administration,” she added. “This is intended to scare people who will go against the administration.”

“We are just ordinary citizens who are here to protest how they are treating the senator,” Mabalatan told the Inquirer.

Tension only electrified the whole atmosphere when a swarm of police officers arrived at the Hall of Justice. Initially, there were only a handful of them from the Muntinlupa City Police Station, but they were later augmented by a truck-load of anti-riot cops and members of the Special Weapons and Tactics unit.

About 100 policemen easily outnumbered the protesters, supporters, and members of the media.

When De Lima’s coaster drove up past 10 a.m. at the Hall of Justice, anti-riot policemen started shoving media and picketers to clear the way. De Lima’s supporters went into a frenzy, shouting words of encouragement to the senator.

The senator stayed inside the coaster for half an hour before she was escorted out after Judge Juanita Guerrero asked that she be brought before the Branch 204 of the Regional Trial Court.

In less than five minutes, after Guerrero was apparently satisfied that De Lima had really been arrested, the senator was escorted back to the police coaster.

Freddie Maglalang, a member of the senator’s staff, said that Guerrero just looked at De Lima and did not say a word.

Inside the coaster, De Lima momentarily opened some of the windows to wave at her supporters and give members of the media a glimpse of her. But she quickly closed the windows and did not open them again despite pleas from her supporters.

Half an hour later, a gray sports utility vehicle, trailed by a police car, drove into the Hall of Justice complex and stopped just across the PNP coaster carrying De Lima.

The SUV, apparently carrying Ronnie Dayan, former driver and co-accused of De Lima in the drug charges, stopped some 500 meters from across the coaster.

As soon as the order to commit the senator to the PNP Custodial Center was released, the police coaster and its convoy drove out of the Hall of Justice compound and was quickly replaced by Dayan’s convoy.

But Dayan stayed inside the vehicle while his sibling and a lawyer, along with the PNP completed the return of warrant process in Guerrero’s court.

When his commitment order to the Muntinlupa City police detention center was released, the vehicle drove away without Dayan having to be presented to Guerrero. /atm