De Lima ‘okay’ in detention — Drilon
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon with Sen. Leila De Lima at the opening of the 17th Congress at the Senate, July 25, 2016. Drilon and other Senate minority senators visited De Lima on Monday, May, 1, 2017, at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame and said that she was ‘okay’ and ‘in high spirits.’ De Lima is detained while facing charges for allegedly receiving drug money from prisoners at the New Bilibid Prisons. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER FILE / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Senator Leila de Lima was in “high spirits” when her fellow opposition senators visited her at her detention cell at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Monday.
De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Costodial Center since last February over drug charges.
“She’s ok naman. She’s in high spirits,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon told reporters after ther visit.
READ: Minority senators visit De Lima in detention
Drilon, and three other minority members — Senators Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros and Antonio Trillanes — arrived at Camp Crame around 11:00 a.m and left past 12 noon.
“Saka sabi nya nabawas-bawasan ang kanyang stress sa ngayon dahil walang Ipad, walang cellphone, walang laptop, so nabawasan yung stress nya. Dumadating daw lang yung stress nya kapag nababasa nya yung dyaryo,” Pangilinan said.
Hontiveros said De Lima was busy reading the Bible and other materials so she would be updated in what is happening in the outside world.
“Ayun nagbabasa sya ng Bibliya,” she said of De Lima.
READ: De Lima rediscovers ‘true self’ in detention
“Nag exercise syempre kumakain dapat sa tamang oras. Nagbabasa ng maraming babasahin kasi kahit papano sinusubaybayan nya yung mga balita na hatid ninyo at kaya din sya nakakapagpahayag ng mga position nya sa ilan sa mga burning issues na ito,” Hontiveros added.
Trillanes, who was also jailed after leading the Oakwood mutiny in 2003, believes that De Lima was safe in her detention cell.
“Sa nakita namin e secure naman at yung mga opisyal ng PNP na nagbabantay sa kanya, sila rin yung mga nagbabanatay sa amin noon so alam nila yang mga ganyang responsibilidad at kailangang pangalagaan nila yung mga naka detained otherwise sila ang mananagot,” he said.
Just like them when they were detained, Trillanes said De Lima does not have an airconditioning in her cell.
“It’s almost the same. Wala naman kaming aircon din nun so kung ano yung selda, yun talaga,” the senator added. CBB/rga
