De Lima: No detention can impede performance of duty

Senator Leila de Lima waves as she arrives at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court on June 30, 2017, to attend the drug trial. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

No detention can stop Senator Leila de Lima from fulfilling her legislative duties, the detained legislator said Saturday as she marked her first year in the Senate.

“They can continue persecuting me, but it will not stop me from stepping up my role as a duly-elected Senator. I shall continue filing bills and resolutions, co-author other worthy legislation that will benefit our countrymen,” she said.

De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City over three illegal drug charges, the first of which led to her arrest and detention in February this year.

Even in detention, the neophyte senator has filed 10 bills and 19 resolutions, including the Anti-Extrajudicial Killing Bill before the Senate. She has also co-authored seven bills and 13 resolutions.

De Lima said she remains “hopeful” to actively participate in deliberating on important measures, such as the proposed reimposition of death penalty, lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and the postponement of barangay elections, among others.

She continued to insist that charges against her were all based on “manufactured evidence and perjured testimonies of convicted criminals.”

A critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership, De Lima has been outspoken about the first year of the country’s chief executive.

On Friday, when she was to enter a plea for her second drug case, Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 Judge Amelia Fabros-Cruz rescheduled her arraignment on Aug. 18, pending De Lima’s motion for reconsideration.

READ: Arraignment reset in ‘weakest’ case vs De Lima

Another drug case is being heard at Branch 206 headed by Judge Patria Manalastas-De Leon. Rogelio Nato Jr., INQUIRER.net trainee/JPV