Sen. Leila de Lima remembers her late father in Dispatch No. 99 which she issued on Sunday, June 18, 2017, from her cell at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame. (Photo from her Facebook page)
If he were still alive, former Commission on Elections Commissioner Vicente de Lima would have ardently defended his daughter Sen. Leila de Lima.
De Lima had an emotional celebration of Father’s Day while in jail.
The feisty senator said it was one of the rare moments that people saw her break down during a Mass inside the Philippine National Police Custodial Center on Sunday.
“It was one of the very rare moments that people saw me crying unabashedly. I became very emotional when I talked about my late father as I delivered my usual reflections during today’s Mass as concelebrated by three priests,” De Lima said in her latest dispatch from Camp Crame issued Monday.
“Last night, in the solitude of my little room, deep sorrow engulfed me as I realize how much I miss my dear daddy, my longtime mentor and role model, whose examples and admonitions greatly shaped my character. My tears were uncontrollable until my eyes closed for the night,” she wrote.
“I started crying again this morning right after the first sentence of my reflections/sharing, Homily time,” De Lima said.
The senator said she thought about what her father would have done or would be doing if he were still alive when tragedy struck her life.
Her father succumbed to colon cancer in 2012.
“Sure, he would have been devastated. But no doubt, my father would have been relentless and passionate in defending his innocent daughter. My father would be tireless and ferocious in seeking justice for his daughter, and fighting for her freedom,” she said.
“Now that he’s gone, I imagine that he’s feverishly pounding on the Lord Almighty’s merciful heart for his daughter’s vindication,” De Lima added.
A vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his bloody drug war, De Lima was put behind bars in February over her alleged involvement in illegal drugs. /atm