MANILA, Philippines — Detainees taking detained former Sen. Leila De Lima hostage on Sunday morning is just the latest incident showing the "risk and indignities" that she has faced since her arrest on drug charges in 2017.
In a statement, Akbayan party called for De Lima's release and also asked how the hostage-taking happened at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
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"While we are relieved that the threat was neutralized, the greater and more urgent issue is that this event should never have happened in the first place," Akbayan Party Executive Leader Perci Cendena said as the party called for an investigation into possible lapses by the police.
"It is the height of hypocrisy that friends and allies of Senator de Lima are barred from seeing her, only to have her life threatened from within the facility itself. We will close ranks with the larger human rights community and work tirelessly to restore the freedom she rightly deserves," Akbayan also said.
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights also condemned the incident as well as De Lima's continued detention for cases that the former senator has maintained are fabricated.
"Make no mistake about it — former senator [de Lima] does not belong in jail, surrounded by criminals and terrorists," APHR chair Charles Santiago — a member of Malaysia's parliament — said in a statement on Sunday.
De Lima was acquitted in 2021 on one drug case is facing two more drug-related cases. The Department of Justice did not drop the other cases despite key witnesses recanting their allegations against her and said the recantations do not affect these cases.
"De Lima was jailed for just one reason: for daring to initiate a Senate investigation on the criminal war on drugs launched by former president Rodrigo Duterte in what amounts to an act of personal vendetta by Duterte that bears no resemblance whatsoever to justice," Santiago said.
She was held hostage early on Sunday as three detainees attempted to escape the PNP Custodial Center, where high risk and high profile detainees are held. While the incident ended with her safe and unscathed, a police officer sustained critical injuries and the three detainees were killed by police.
Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police, said that de Lima was not targeted by the detainees and was taken hostage because she was in the same detention center.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. gave de Lima the opportunity to transfer detention centers, but she has declined the offer. Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos said De Lima told him he felt safe in the custodial center and would rather stay there.
Meanwhile, groups and her allies have already called for her release.
“This incident should serve to prompt the new government led by [Marcos] to do the only right and sensible thing it can do regarding the case of de Lima: to drop all fabricated charges against her and release her unconditionally and immediately,” APHR’s Santiago said.
CHR to investigate incident too
Meanwhile, in a separate statement on Sunday, the Commission on Human Rights said the incident "puts into serious question" the safety of the detainees in the facility. The agency also dispatched their own team to investigate the incident.
"CHR has already dispatched a Quick Response Operation from CHR [National Capital Region] for a motu proprio investigation of the case in the interest of finding out the truth and possible accountabilities following this hostage incident and subsequent deaths in the PNP Custodial Center," CHR said.