Sen. Leila de Lima (left) and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Malacañang greeted Sen. Leila de Lima on Saturday on her first year in jail on illegal drug charges.
“On the one year anniversary of Senator Leila de Lima’s incarceration, let me first greet Sen. Leila de Lima a happy anniversary,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
De Lima, a fierce critic of the Duterte administration, had been detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame since Feb. 24, 2017.
The senator was arrested on the order of the the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court for her alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade at the New Bilibid Prison.
She denied all the charges, saying that she was only being persecuted by the government for her stance on alleged extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs.
But Roque branded De Lima as “a living symbol that the Philippines has become a narco-state with her election in office funded by drugs.”
“Senator De Lima’s incarceration shows that the criminal justice system in the Philippines is alive, effective and working.” he said “Senator De Lima has been detained because of drug charges. She is the mother of all drug lords by allowing the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the National Bilibid Prison when she was the Department of Justice Secretary.”
Roque then urged everyone to “refrain from influencing the outcome of her case and just let the legal process proceed accordingly” as her cases were pending in courts. /atm