De Lima to Duterte: You know why I should be released

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima hit President Rodrigo Duterte for “pretending not to know” why the detained lawmaker should be released from prison.

“Of course, he knows on what grounds,” De Lima said in a statement Tuesday.

“On the grounds that the charges against me are all fabricated, based on the perjured statements of convicted felons; that even the perjured testimonies they provided are grossly inadequate to support the finding of probable cause; that the charges filed are even inconsistent with what little evidence the prosecution has; and, most of all, this is all part of my political persecution for daring to stand up for human rights and against EJKs,” she added.

This came as a response to Duterte’s statement when representatives from the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats urged him over the weekend to set De Lima free.

“On what grounds?” the president replied.

Duterte also declined to comment on De Lima’s alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade, saying the “case is already in court.”

De Lima likened Duterte to a “thief who suddenly becomes self-aware that the evidence of his crime is sitting in plain sight.”

“The President is attempting to surreptitiously, yet futilely, kick dirt to cover his crime by backtracking on his constant public lashings and attacks against me,” she said.

“The president knows what he and his men have done. And he knows he has the power to order prosecutors to withdraw the cases against me in order to rectify a monumental wrong. Unfortunately, he does not have the guts to man up to it, and do what is right—free an innocent woman, and stop the killings of his own people,” De Lima added.

De Lima, an outspoken critic of the administration, was arrested in February on charges that she accepted bribes from jailed drug lords when she was the secretary of the Department of Justice. She has repeatedly denied allegations and reiterated her innocence.