MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Parliamentary Union has renewed its call for the release of former Sen. Leila de Lima and to have all charges against her dropped already, as her detention nears its sixth year mark next week.
The decision was made during its 170th session held in Geneva from January 21 to February 2 this year. The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians “is ever more convinced that the steps taken against Ms. de Lima came in response to her vocal opposition in the way in which the then President Duterrte was waging a war on drugs.”
Related Stories
Should cases against de Lima continue, the IPU requests that one of their trial observers be present to monitor the conduct of her cases before branches 205 and 256 at the Regional Trial Court in Muntinlupa City.
The IPU expressed “grave concern” that de Lima “continues to languish” behind bars even after a key witness already retracted his statement against her.
The parliamentarians' group also pointed out that de Lima had to go through criminal proceedings “with no clear end in sight,” noting that some official proceedings “maligned her as a woman and injured her dignity as a human being” with some of the sessions bringing to light her alleged sexual conduct.
Last year, star witness Rafael Ragos recanted his allegations of receiving money from New Bilibid Prison inmates involved in illegal drug trading and handed it to de lima’s aide. Ragos is the former National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director and former Bureau of Corrections Officer-in-Charge.
“In his retraction, Mr. Ragos said that he had been forced to testify against her by the then Secretary of Justice Vitaliano Aguirre II, who led the witch hunt against Ms. de Lima in the Philippines’ House of Representatives Justice Committee’s hearings in 2016,” the IPU noted.
Following Ragos' recantation, the Department of Justice however said they will leave it up to the courts to decide on the matter.
Ragos has already finished his testimony before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204, which is handling one of the two remaining drug cases of the former senator where the former is key witness. De Lima's team has said they will seek provisional liberty for the former lawmaker again, through a supplemental for bail.
The Geneva-based IPU, composed of elected national legislative bodies from across the world, was established in 1889. It "works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy." — Kaycee Valmonte with reports from Kristine Joy Patag