De Lima: When will PH citizenry stand up vs admin abuses?

Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

While “deeply heartened” by the European Union Parliament’s call for her immediate release, Senator Leila de Lima wondered when the country’s own public institutions and the citizenry would stand up against alleged abuses by the Duterte administration.

“I am deeply heartened by the collective initiative undertaken by the European Parliament in calling for my immediate release, condemning the rising incidence of EJKs (extrajudicial killings) and pushing for an independent international investigation into such unlawful killings and other violations under the Duterte regime’s brutal war on drugs,” De Lima said in a handwritten statement from her detention at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Friday.

She said this latest move by the EU, following similar statements of other international bodies, “is but a tangible proof that the rest of the world do care about what’s happening with our country today.”

“It’s not at all an interference with our country’s internal affairs but rather an aggregate assertion of the universal values of truth, justice and humanity,” De Lima said.

“When will our own public institutions manifest their own ability for courage against the prevailing culture of lies and impunity?

“When will civil society and our citizenry muster enough courage to say and say it loudly that summary executions are never right?” the senator further asked.

As former chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, De Lima initiated the Senate investigation into alleged EJKs and summary killings since President Rodrigo Duterte’s assumption in office in June last year.

She was stripped of the chairmanship and later charged and detained for alleged drug links.

De Lima has repeatedly denied any involvement in illegal drugs. RAM/rga