On 58th birthday, De Lima willing to bargain with Duterte over EJKs

Sen. Leila de Lima (Photo from her Facebook page)

Published: 6:48 p.m., Aug. 27, 2017 | 11:24 p.m., Aug. 27, 2017

Sen. Leila de Lima, considered the first political prisoner under the Duterte administration, celebrated her birthday Sunday – her 187th day in detention – still fiercely critical of the policies of the chief executive.

Activist priest, Fr. Robert Reyes, told the Inquirer that addressing her family, friends, and colleagues who came to visit her, De Lima said if she could have the chance to come face-to-face with President Rodrigo Duterte, she would tell him: “Mr. President, lock me in jail for as long as you want but please just stop the killings.”

“This was the bargain Senator Leila said she was willing to make with Mr. Duterte,” Reyes said.

Over 80 guests attended Sunday’s gathering at the courtyard of De Lima’s detention cell.

Reyes said De Lima was in high spirits.

“Senator Leila said she thanked God for giving her 58 wonderful years,” he said. “She is enraged by what is happening, especially the drug killings, but she said she would not be consumed by negativism.”

Reyes added that De Lima admitted to her guests that there were times when she would cry at night and ask herself if all her sufferings were “all worth it.” Her fear was people forgetting her, the priest added.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, de Lima’s political ally, said that it was apparent at the gathering that everybody was still “actively pursuing her case.”

“I told her that this too shall pass and that she has a larger mission ahead of her,” said Trillanes, who also spent seven years in the same custodial center for leading a military uprising against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Trillanes said the mood at the custodial center was “festive” as guests “apprised De Lima of what has been happening.”

Ramon Magsaysay awardee Lilia de Lima, former director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) , said she told her niece that “the righteous must never cower before the rogues.”

Reyes said he concelebrated mass with Pangasinan Archbishop Socrates Villegas and three other priests – Albert Alejo, Hector Cañon, and Flavie Villanueva – inside the the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

In his homily, Villegas expressed gratitude to De Lima for inspiring people and touching their lives.

Alejo reminded De Lima that it was on her birthday last year that he reached out to her about self-confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman, Edgar Matobato.

Reyes said Alejo read from his diary, where he shared with the guests his exciting – and at times entertaining – account about how Matobato eventually reached De Lima.

“Father Bert said it was a ‘grace-filled moment’ when Edgar told him he wanted to talk to Senator Leila, because as Father Bert wrote in his diary, ‘Edgar wanted the violent story of the country to be revealed’,” Reyes said.

De Lima’s media relations officer, Ferdie Maglalang, told the Inquirer that a lot of the guests were surprised to see the senator seemingly at her best.

Maglalang said the guests complimented De Lima on her 15-pound weight loss that made her prettier and put her in fighting form. She did not look like a miserable detainee.

Those who were with De Lima were her children, siblings, grandchildren, and other relatives.

De Lima’s former colleagues in the Aquino administration – such as Dinky Soliman, Ramon Jimenez, Butch Abad with his daughter Julia, Ging Deles, and Bro. Armin Luistro – were also present.

Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III visited De Lima a week before her birthday.

A letter from her 85-year-old mother was perhaps the most precious gift that De Lima received on Sunday. De Lima’s mother was told that the senator had gone on an extended study leave in the United States.

A Senate staffer of De Lima’s said her mother had asked one her siblings to mail the letter to the senator.

De Lima’s birthday wish?

“I pray this will be the first and last time I celebrate my birthday in detention,” she said in a statement.

She said she wished for “vindication” as well as freedom “not only from the injustice of my detention under the Duterte regime but also freedom from the lies and slander on my womanhood and person.” /atm