De Lima thanks groups calling for her release

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima thanked yesterday local business organizations and international rights advocates for expressing concern for her plight and urging the Philippine government to swiftly resolve what she described as the remaining trumped-up drug charges against her by the Duterte administration.

De Lima, who marked her fifth year in detention in Camp Crame last Feb. 24, received the support of the Filipina CEO Circle, Integrity Initiative Inc., Judicial Reform Initiative, Makati Business Club, Philippine Women’s Economic Network, and Women’s Business Council Philippines.

“I express my most profound gratitude to the six business groups for their statement of support and solidarity as I welcomed my fifth year in unjust detention last Feb. 24,” she said in a statement. “Their solidarity means a lot to me, a further proof that there are many groups out there monitoring the status of my cases and my unjust detention; and that people care not just for me but for the way justice system works in our country.”

The business groups, in a joint statement released Feb. 23, urged the Duterte administration to “reconsider” the remaining pending cases against De Lima. They lamented that the charges have not progressed after five years, which should have been “adequate time for the government, with all the powers of the state behind it, to prosecute its case against a citizen whose contact with lawyers, family, supporters and the outside world they have severely curtailed.”