“Running Priest” Fr. Robert Reyes visits Sen. Leila de Lima at her cell at the PNP Custodial Center to preside an Ash Wednesday mass for the beleaguered senator. (Photo by JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net)
Embattled Sen. Leila de Lima turns emotional every time she hears mass while in jail.
Fr. Robert Reyes said this was because De Lima, currently detained for drug charges, would remember the times she would hear masses in her hometown in Iriga City, Camarines Sur.
On Wednesday, De Lima, along with her family, supporters and staff, got their foreheads dabbed with ash during a Mass celebrated by Reyes at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center to mark the start of the 40-day Lenten season.
“Dalawang beses na akong nagmimisa. Palagi siyang naluluha kasi talagang hindi naman po nya inaasahan na sasapitin niya ito,” Reyes told reporters in Camp Crame, which houses the custodial center. “Pero inuulit niya na hindi siya nagulat na nangyari ito.”
(“I’ve celebrated Mass here twice. She would always be teary-eyed because she wasn’t really expecting this to happen to her. But she would also say she wasn’t surprised by what happened.”)
Reyes said De Lima told him that the Lent was the “most important season” for her.
“Hindi niya nami-miss lahat ng mga kaganapan ng kwaresma sa Iriga sa kanyang bayan, lalo na ang Biyernes Santo,” Reyes said. “So sabi ko sa kanya: ‘Huwag ka mag-alala senadora. Kung gusto mo, kung nandyan ka pa ng Holy Week, araw-araw yung Holy Week services ating gawin.”
(“She never skipped the events of Lent in Iriga in her hometown, especially on Good Friday. So I told her: ‘Don’t worry. If you want, if you’re still there during the Holy Week, we’ll do the Holy Week services every day.”)
But De Lima said she hoped that the Supreme Court would decide in her favor and free her from detention.
The senator sought help from the high tribunal to stop her arrest, which she said was “illegal” because the judge at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court lacked jurisdiction over her and committed grave abuse of discretion.
De Lima, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, was put behind bars after she surrendered to the police last week. She is facing charges for allegedly profiting from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison while she was still justice secretary under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. /atm