After two years of her arrest, Sen. Lila de Lima, former Chair of the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights, is still being held in arbitrary detention. Through various questionable charges, the Senator was arrested for three complaints filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ). Despite lacking review of probable cause, orders of arrest were issued to her. During December of the year 2017, while the whole country is watching, the Supreme Court ruled 9 to 6 justifying her arrest orders.
The inquisition on her believed to have been started when Senator Leila de Lima conducted investigations between 2008 and 2010 of ‘extrajudicial killings’ (EJK) allegedly happening in Davao City. According to the investigations, the summary killings are being perpetrated by the secret group called the “Davao Death Squad” or DDS, through the authority of Duterte. When then-Mayor of Davao City Rodrigo Duterte taken his throne as a president of the country, as a Senator de Lima vocally and constantly criticized Duterte’s “war on drugs” program.
Because of her bravery in speaking out publicly against President Duterte’s brutal ‘war on drugs’, Leila de Lima has been subjected to many threats from him. And because of this, Duterte was determined to “destroy her in public”, throwing daily accusations against her including “fake” sex videos and sexist insults. This has devastated the Senator and also caused major reactions from various local and international lawyers associations.
Meanwhile, Last Thursday, February 14, Senator Leila De Lima released another strong statement on her Twitter account:
“I greatly urge my fellow Filipinos to oppose the reclamation project and match, if not exceed, the same passion we showed in unmasking and opposing the corrupt agenda behind the Boracay clean-up. Had we not done these, the beauteous island would now have become a gambling hub.”
According to the website https://abogado.com.ph, a news site related to laws created by professional lawyers of the country: “As far as Sen. Leila de Lima is concerned, the Manila Bay rehabilitation program is just one of the many tricks of the Duterte administration. The senator said the President could have made the public that it was for the environment.”
“But no, it was not just to rehabilitate Manila Bay after all, but a preparation to stage the atrocious reclamation project there that will destroy the natural harbour of the historic bay. This President is endlessly prolific in lies and deceptions,” De Lima also said on Twitter.