More than six arduous years had passed since former Senator Leila de Lima felt significant progress in the drug-related charges pressed against her. This all started in 2016, when she was accused of receiving 10-million worth of bribes from drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison to allegedly support her senatorial candidacy. This drove out a series of fabricated accusations, which eventually became the reason for her detention.
Her first case, out of the three cases, was acquitted by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 205 last February 2022, after the court granted her a motion that invalidates the evidence hurled against her. It was only this year, on May 14th, was she acquitted of her second case by the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204, leaving her only with a single impending case to win absolute liberty from detention.
It is alarming how this kind of rottenness in the justice system is tolerated and strongly apparent as they hold back even a prominent human rights advocate like De Lima. The word “rotten” might even be an understatement when it comes to describing it because the pace of proceedings in De Lima’s cases has long been overdue.
Moreover, it is ever concerning how big of an open secret the government’s role is in being the primary figure to enable human rights violations or conceal its already visible marks. Our government officials have become the master puppeteers pulling the thin threads attached to their pawns— using them as someone to tarnish the name of their oppositionists.
In April 2022, several key witnesses, like Rafael Ragos, testified how they were forced to manufacture and coerced by the then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III to fabricate lies against De Lima. Other witnesses who have undergone recantations include confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa and De Lima’s former security aide, Ronnie Dayan.
On that same note, they are able to take total autonomy to the time periods of such proceedings to even move an inch. A lot of undue delays in De Lima’s court proceedings suggest an intentional power play that rendered her suffering.
Years 2018, 2019, and 2020 are losses on the part of the 63-year-old detainee, as a pattern of repeated absences of prosecutors in handling her cases are continuous. The system was so bad that even the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an organization composed of human rights experts investigating arbitrary arrest and detention, had to comment that De Lima's right to trial was indeed violated.
Consequently, this leads to the seemingly blind eye exhibited by the judiciary officials. They bite down on the hard-candied lies and defamation more than acknowledging the actual truth screaming right off their faces.
What’s even sadder is that any plea and demands made by De Lima’s counsel to grant her even temporary liberty were shortsightedly disregarded. With the second acquittal being adjourned by the judge, her legal team, headed by Boni Tacardon, is still in pursuit of asking for such providence to happen. But then the State Prosecutor, Sonny Ocampo, responded that all legal remedies are still up for discussion.
De Lima’s case is an evidential scenario of the intended violation of her liberty, innocence, and overall rights. Even so, she has no choice but to accept it all—sticks and stones—while at the same time keeping her sense of honesty and faith intact.
“With Truth on my side, I remain hopeful and optimistic of a positive outcome in my two remaining drug cases. In the name of Truth and Justice…Hindi po tayo pababayaan ng Mahal na Panginoon (The Lord will not forsake me),” she said earlier this May when she appealed the promulgation for one of her two remaining drug cases.
With all the questionable and fabricated evidence, the recantations and withdrawals of the opposing witnesses, and then adding to it the continuous pleas of renowned international human rights organizations and other supporters, it still seems insufficient to turn the judiciary officials' moral compasses (if they even exist) in the right direction.
It is my foremost belief that dissent and criticism should never be a threat to people in power. Instead, it should be used as fuel to improve the methods and procedures embedded in the system, especially in the justice sector. A rigorous kind of reform in the culture and ethics amongst the judiciary officials that must exist.
Successful and fair rulings would have a huge impact not only on the rich and prominent but also on the incapable and the ordinary. After all, Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason— to judge impartially regardless of the physical or outside influences present at hand.
To end, it would be an important reminder for us that as long as one sides with the TRUTH, no amount of darted lies shall prevail.
Article: Jhon Almark E. Dela Cruz
Graphics: Timothy Andrei Milambiling
Comments