(Eagle News)–Senator Leila de Lima has slammed three of her colleagues who accused some US lawmakers of intervening in Philippine affairs when they urged her release from detention.
According to De Lima, Senate President Tito Sotto and Senators Gringo Honasan II and Panfilo M. Lacson failed to see the “global consensus about the unjustness of my situation.”
She noted that last April 4, US Senators Marco Rubio, Edward J. Markey, Richard Durbin, Marsha Blackburn, and Chris Coons filed Senate Resolution 142 that called on the Philippine government “to immediately release Senator De Lima, drop all charges against her, [and] remove restrictions on her personal and work conditions.”
She said this was “just like the many other parliamentarians [w]ho earlier issued separate statements expressing concern” about her.
“Verily, with many other reputable organizations [c]onsistently standing by me, it will not be presumptuous to assert that there is a global consensus about the unjustness of my situation, something that eludes the lens of some of my very own colleagues in the Philippine Senate,” she said.
De Lima also slammed Sotto for comparing her with the three former senators who were charged in connection with the pork barrel scam.
She said her situation was far different from that of former Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile.
“Naranasan ba ng tatlong dating Senador yung mga ginawa sakin ni (President Rodrigo Duterte) at mga kampon nito? Mismo ang Pangulo ang naghusga bago pa man nagkaroon ng imbestigasyon sa mga akusasyon laban sa akin. May nambastos ba at yumurak sa mga pagkatao nila habang dinidinig ng Senado noon yung usapin ng Napoles PDAF Scam, kagaya ng matinding pambabastos na naranasan ko sa House inquiry at sa Pangulo mismo?” she asked.
“May mga testigo ba sa mga kaso nila na tinakot, pinilit o pinangakuan ng kung ano ano para magsinungaling, gaya ng mga testigo laban sa akin? Maituturing ba na patas, makatao at makatarungan ang trato sa akin ng gobyernong ito?” she added.
According to De Lima, those who were calling for her release “only choose or dare to act in solidarity with, and fight for the causes, of those they regard as true victims of injustice and political persecution.”
De Lima, who is facing drug-related charges in connection with her alleged role in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison when she was justice secretary, is detained in Camp Crame.