As De Lima walks free, rights defenders declare time’s up for accusers, jailers
MANILA, Philippines — As former Senator Leila De Lima works to rebuild her life following a Muntinlupa court’s granting of her bail, human rights groups and minority lawmakers have sounded a rallying cry to hold her jailers accountable for subjecting her to what they have described as an unjust and prolonged detention.
Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that De Lima should never have been detained in the first place given that the evidence against her had been “fabricated” and “concocted” in retaliation for her criticisms of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
“This last remaining drug case against her must be dismissed expeditiously, and those behind her arbitrary detention and other violations of her human rights must be brought to justice,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch stressed that the charges against De Lima — now down to one following witness recantations — were “politically motivated” and concocted by Duterte’s allies who were bent on “(punishing) her for performing her duties as a senator and speaking out against the ‘war on drugs.’”
Both Makakabayan bloc lawmakers Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers) and Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party) said that while the granting of De Lima’s bail is a positive step toward her freedom, the individuals responsible for her detention must be similarly brought to justice.
Brosas said that “the fight for justice does not end here” as there is a need to “hold accountable those responsible for her unjust incarceration and the trumped-up charges against her,” while Castro said De Lima’s accusers and jailers should be the ones “jailed in the near future.”
Similarly, Liberal Party President Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay, 1st District) said that De Lima’s granted application for bail is “a harsh indictment of those who falsely accused her of wrongdoing.”
Lagman also lauded De Lima for staying the course by insisting on her liberty and refusing to “(accept) the authority’s condescending offer of hospital or house arrest.”
On Monday, Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206 granted De Lima's petition for bail by reversing an earlier junked application for bail, which a different Muntilupa court – Branch 256 — issued June 7.
De Lima’s team spent the afternoon working to process the documents needed for her clearance for bail, which upon approval was immediately executory. This marks the long-awaited step to freedom for the former senator after over six years in jail.
“I have to rebuild my life. My life that they have tried to destroy,” De Lima told CNN inside the court on Monday.
Pro-Duterte leaders ‘respect’ decision
Reacting to a reporter’s question about the evidence that led to De Lima’s accepted bail petition, Sen. Bato Dela Rosa questioned why the case had not been dismissed under the term of Duterte.
“When you say na mahina yung case na yun, kaya nadismiss, eh bakit hindi nadismiss sa panahon ni President Duterte? (When you say that the case is weak, which is why it was dismissed, then why was it not dismissed during the time of President Duterte?)” Dela Rosa said, according to a News5 report.
“The facts of the case are the same. The merits of the case are the same,” Dela Rosa argued.
This statement by Dela Rosa needs context as De Lima was acquitted in her first drug case in 2021, which was Duterte's penultimate year in office.
In that year, a Muntinlupa court granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence, a challenge to the prosecution’s evidence that, when granted, has the effect of a case dismissal.
De Lima was acquitted in her second drug case this year after a Muntinlupa court cleared De Lima and her former driver, Ronnie Dayan, of the charge of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading, on the ground of reasonable doubt.
At the time, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said De Lima’s acquittal proved that the “justice system was working.”
Remulla said the same in a Monday briefing: "It just shows the independence of the judiciary... We are independent of each other and we are free to decide as we deem fit. It just shows there is a democracy."
Rights group Karapatan stressed that charges against De Lima, which it said was fabricated to punish her, “is (also) the situation of the nearly 800 political prisoners in the Philippines.”
“It is crucial not to lose sight of the larger goal – the full exoneration of Senator De Lima and the release of all political prisoners,” Brosas said.
— with reports from Kristine Joy Patag
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