(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday expressed “concern” over the European Parliament’s resolution calling for detained Senator Leila de Lima’s release, saying it “casts aspersion on Philippine legal processes, its judicial system, and the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution to uphold and protect the rights of all individuals.”
In a statement, the DFA added that while it “recognize(s) the independent standing of the (EP) within the (European Union) system, resolutions that are crafted by its members of Parliament must necessarily possess unimpeachable standards, given the extremely sensitive topic of human rights.”
“It is important that the elected members exert all efforts to secure more accurate information on resolutions, in order to avoid the impression of interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign non-EU countries,” it said.
It noted that the “pillars of criminal justice system” in the country remained “effective and well-functioning” not only for De Lima, “but for all.”
De Lima’s case, it said, was pending before the courts, and the “Philippine government will allow the legal process to proceed accordingly.”
“The Philippine government asks the international community to refrain from influencing the outcome of a case that is highly under the jurisdiction of Philippine local courts,” it said.
As for the EP’s allegations of “state-sponsored extrajudicial killings,” the DFA called these “disturbing.”
It noted that the government was “taking pains to investigate the veracity” of the allegations.
“This is being undertaken precisely to ensure that due process and the rule of law prevail even in situations of crises, such as the enormous drug problem that our society is facing,” it said.
“The Philippine government stands ready and is firmly committed to strengthen existing mechanisms for dialogue and engagement on human rights and other issues with the EU and other international partners,” it added.
The EP adopted the joint resolution calling for De Lima’s release on Thursday, March 16.
In the resolution, the EP called De Lima the “highest-level critic” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, and noted her ouster as head of the justice committee in the Senate in September last year.
It also called on the Philippine government to put a stop to what it said were state-sponsored killings, and to processes that would lead to the passage of an “inhumane” death penalty law.
De Lima has been detained in the Philippine National Police Custodial Center since her arrest in February over a drug case filed against her at Branch 204 of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.
The case stems from her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trading in the national penitentiary when she was justice secretary.
She is facing other related drug cases in Branches 205 and 206 of the Muntinlupa RTC, and a disobedience to summons case at the Quezon City Metropolitan Court.
The case was filed at the Quezon MTC after she admitted she told Ronnie Dayan, her alleged bagman, to skip House of Representatives hearings into the drug trade in the national penitentiary last year.
