De Lima readying counter-charges vs persecutors

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Leila de Lima is preparing to file counter-charges against those who “politically persecuted” her during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In a dwIZ interview yesterday, De Lima said her legal team is mulling to countersue Duterte and the latter’s justice secretary, Vitaliano Aguirre II, as she accused them of filing trumped up illegal drug charges against her.

She said Duterte has an axe to grind against her because she – when she was human rights commission chair – investigated the killings by the alleged Davao Death Squad when Duterte was mayor of the city.

“I am doing this for justice and vindication, not to seek revenge. It is not a matter of vengefulness. It is my right to seek justice for the wrongs they committed against me,” De Lima said.

“They smeared my reputation. I was detained and deprived of my liberty for almost seven years. I was not able to fully perform my mandate as senator. It is clear that the charges were upon Duterte’s orders while Aguirre was his chief enforcer to persecute me,” she added.

De Lima, however, remains noncommittal on calls for her to run again for the Senate after her failed 2022 reelection bid, to counter the candidacies of three Dutertes in the midterm elections – the former president and his two sons, Davao congressman Paolo and mayor Sebastian.

“What I can say is I have no decision as of now. I am giving it serious thought and deep reflection. I will not just go back to the world of politics after everything I went through,” she said.

De Lima said she would focus on helping the victims of extrajudicial killings in the drug war that Duterte conducted when he was president.

The elder Duterte and his national police chiefs, including Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, are facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation for crimes against humanity over the deaths.

The former senator and justice secretary said she looks forward to the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant against Duterte and his drug war enforcers.

De Lima said a sitting senator like Dela Rosa is not spared from being arrested, noting that a member’s immunity from arrest only applies while Congress is in session.

“The effect of an ICC arrest warrant is that their world will become smaller. Those implicated, like Mr. Duterte and Senator Dela Rosa, may be arrested if they go to other countries which are members of the Rome Statute, which are thus obligated to enforce the warrant,” she said.