Apr 27, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia are launching a social media campaign addressed to Presidential Candidates in the upcoming 2022 Philippine national and local elections urging them to make a pledge to immediately and unconditionally drop all the trumped-up charges against Senator De Lima and release her from unjust detention, if elected.
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) invites netizens in the region and beyond to join in the campaign on Twitter and other social media platforms, which will use the hashtag #PledgeToFreeLeila, and will ask the presidential candidates to publicly pledge to have Senator De Lima’s immediate release a priority of their government if elected. APHR has designed a toolkit with orientation for those willing to join the campaign that can be accessed here.
“People who value democracy in the Philippines and elsewhere are outraged at this gross miscarriage of justice. They can use social media to express their discontent and ask the next President to try and right the many wrongs done to Senator De Lima and release her as soon as they assume the presidency,” said Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament from Malaysia, and APHR Chairperson.
Philippine Senator Leila De Lima has now spent virtually the entirety of her six-year term as Senator unjustly imprisoned, simply for carrying out her duty as legislator to hold the authorities accountable for their crimes.
As a human rights lawyer and advocate, Senator De Lima has been one of the staunchest critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s infamous war on drugs, which has resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings throughout the country. She was arrested on 24 February 2017, shortly after she had launched a Senate investigation into these extrajudicial killings, and she has remained in detention ever since.
The trumped-up charges against De Lima are clearly politically-motivated. In November 2018, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that her imprisonment “lacks a legal basis” and is a form of reprisal due to her human rights work. On 17 February 2021, the Senator was acquitted in one of three cases against her, but her remaining two cases are ongoing.
“There cannot be any doubt of Senator De Lima’s innocence as well as her commitment to democracy and human rights. Releasing her should be one of the first priorities of the next President if they want to restore a modicum of justice and rule of law in the government of the country,” said Santiago.
Feb 24, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Half a decade after her arbitrary arrest, Southeast Asian parliamentarians have renewed their calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Leila De Lima, Philippine Senator and a member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
“Senator De Lima has now spent the vast majority of her six-year term as Senator unjustly detained in prison, seemingly targeted for attempting to hold authorities to account,” said Charles Santiago, APHR Chair and a Malaysian Member of Parliament (MP). “She continues to faithfully perform her duties as a legislator, despite being incarcerated, and serves as a voice to defend and protect victims of human rights abuses. We, her fellow parliamentarians in the region, applaud her fortitude and deep commitment to serving the people, despite the injustices she continues to endure.”
A human rights lawyer and advocate, Senator De Lima has been one of the staunchest critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s infamous war on drugs, which has resulted in thousands of cases of extrajudicial killings in the country. Before her arrest, Senator De Lima launched a Senate investigation into the extrajudicial killings under President Duterte’s rule.
She has remained in detention since her arrest on 24 February 2017 on politically-motivated, trumped-up drug charges. In November 2018, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that her imprisonment “lacks a legal basis” and is a form of reprisal due to her human rights work in the Philippines. On 17 February 2021, the Senator was acquitted in one of three cases against her, but her remaining two cases are ongoing.
This judicial harassment against Senator De Lima illustrates just one example of the deteriorating state of democracy and human rights in the country, APHR said. Since President Duterte assumed office in 2016, there have been increasing attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and opposition lawmakers. APHR’s recently published report, Parliamentarians at Risk 2021, revealed that disinformation campaigns and “red-tagging” of opposition parliamentarians increased alarmingly ahead of the 2022 elections, with baseless accusations made against left-wing lawmakers.
Senator De Lima recently filed her candidacy for another six-year term as senator, ahead of national and local elections that are due to take place in May.
“Senator De Lima is no criminal, and continues to stand up for truth, justice, and accountability. The Senator’s innocence is clear, as evidenced by the widespread and persistent calls for her immediate release, including from the United Nations. It is deeply shameful for President Duterte and his government to deprive Senator De Lima of her liberty and political rights, including her right to freely campaign for her candidacy. As long as the Senator is wrongfully deprived of her freedom, the Philippines cannot be seen as a country that respects the rule of law,” Santiago said.
Feb 24, 2021 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – On the fourth anniversary of Philippine Senator Leila de Lima’s prolonged imprisonment, parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia today expressed their collective solidarity with her and renewed their call for her immediate and unconditional release.
“It should never be a crime to challenge the authorities or hold them to account. This is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy and ensures that those in power are kept in check,” said Wong Chen, a member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) and Malaysian lawmaker. “Senator de Lima’s detention represents the worrying state of democracy region-wide and the rise of authoritarianism, which we must work relentlessly to push back against to protect fundamental freedoms.”
Senator de Lima has been one of the most vocal critics of President Duterte’s deadly anti-drugs policy, and has remained in detention since her arrest on 24 February 2017 for alleged drug trafficking charges. Prior to her arrest, she launched a Senate investigation into extrajudicial killings under the current administration. Her legal proceedings have also faced significant delays and at least six judges have withdrawn from hearing her case.
Most recently, on 17 February, the Senator was acquitted in one of her three cases, after a Regional Trial Court granted her demurrer to evidence application (a motion to dismiss based on insufficiency of prosecution evidence). Her applications for bail and demurrer in another case were however denied, and she remains in detention until the resolution of her two pending cases.
“While we welcome the judge’s decision to acquit Senator Leila de Lima in one case, the charges against her were politically-motivated from the start and should never have been brought in the first place. The continued judicial harassment and prolonged detention are harsh reminders of the administration’s zero-tolerance for political dissent and critical voices,” added Wong Chen.
Regional lawmakers also noted that Senator de Lima’s case reflected a broader trend of harassment and intimidation, not only on fellow parliamentarians, but on dissent in Southeast Asia.
In a report published last year, APHR found that at least 27 opposition lawmakers in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines have been investigated or charged for merely carrying out their parliamentary mandate. Tactics used were similar to those deployed against human rights defenders, journalists, and other pro-democracy activists, and part of a wider attempt to silence opinions.
“As regional lawmakers, we continue to stand in solidarity with Senator de Lima until the day she walks out a free person. She has now spent four years in prison and none of the cases against her have resulted in a conviction. Her unjust detention must end now, and we urge the Philippine authorities to allow all lawmakers to carry out their mandate effectively without fear of reprisals,” Wong Chen said.
Nov 9, 2020 | DFF, Statements
As recently charged opposition members today appear before state prosecutors, Southeast Asian lawmakers call for all politically motivated charges against parliamentarians to be immediately dropped and for the Philippine authorities to end their judicial harassment of the opposition.
On 18 July, the Philippine police filed a case with the Department of Justice against more than thirty opposition members, priests, and lawyers, including APHR Members Senator Leila de Lima and Senator Risa Hontiveros. All are currently being investigated for a series of criminal charges including sedition, inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal and obstruction of justice. Today, opposition members named in the case will appear before a panel of state prosecutors to present counter-affidavits and refute the allegations made against them.
“The Philippine authorities have launched a campaign against its opposition, with judicial harassment as its main weapon. This case is entirely baseless, and part of a systematic attack by the Duterte administration on free speech and democracy. It is just another intimidation tactic used to silence criticism,” said Charles Santiago, APHR Chairperson and Malaysian Member of Parliament (MP).
The Philippine National Police claims that a viral, anonymously posted anti-Duterte “Bikoy” video was being used to spread false information on social media to “agitate the general population into making mass protest,” and to de-seat Duterte from his role as President. The video alleges that Duterte and his family are involved in the illegal drug trade.
This case is not isolated but is part of a series of attacks against opposition lawmakers. On 1 August, current and former lawmakers, and members of the youth group Anakbayan, were charged in yet another politically fabricated case over the alleged recruiting and kidnapping of a student. Two APHR Members, Philippine lawmaker Sarah Elago and former MP Tom Villarin, were charged for kidnapping and violations of the laws on Anti-Trafficking in Persons, the Protection of Children against Child Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination, and on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and other Crimes Against Humanity. However, Alicia Lucena, the student, denied that she was abducted, and the subpoena incorrectly identified Tom Villarin as an Anakbayan representative.
These two recent cases are part of a pattern of charges filed against opposition members to silence criticism against the administration and the global outcry over thousands of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines since President Duterte took office in 2016. The most well-known symbol of these efforts is the ongoing detention of Senator Leila de Lima for more than two years after she launched investigations into the extrajudicial killings.
In a report released in June, “In the Crosshairs of the Presidency,” APHR highlighted the broader attacks on MPs in the Philippines, which include MPs Frances Castro, Antonio Tinio, Ariel Casilao, Carlos Zarate and APHR Board Member Teodoro “Teddy” Baguilat. At least eight APHR members from the Philippines, all members of the opposition, are currently facing charges.
“The Philippine authorities are instilling a climate of fear among lawmakers. Self-censorship in the Congress is hindering the MPs’ ability to effectively speak on behalf of the people they represent,” said Kasit Piromya, APHR Board Member and former Thai MP. “The Philippine authorities must end the absurd judicial harassment of opposition MPs immediately.”
The harassment against Philippine opposition members follows a disturbing regional trend in Southeast Asia where authoritarian governments use their judicial systems to silence dissent and undermine opposition lawmakers. In Cambodia, APHR has documented the ongoing judicial harassment of current and former members of the opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which Hun Sen’s administration dissolved two years ago. Also in Thailand, opposition MPs are facing multiple legal threats and charges, raising fears that the opposition party, the Future Forward Party, might be disbanded as well.
“Stifling political debate erodes the checks and balances on the executive and seriously threatens the democratic foundations of a political system. ASEAN governments should adhere to their stated commitment to democracy, good governance and the rule of law as outlined in the ASEAN Charter,” said Mu Sochua, Cambodian MP and APHR Board Member.
Nov 9, 2020 | DFF, Opinion Articles
By Leila de Lima
MP, Philippines
MANILA — Since taking office just over three years ago, President Rodrigo Duterte has not only overseen a murderous campaign on drug users and sellers. He has also unleashed a brazen assault on the country’s democratic institutions — at times, using his so-called war on drugs as a pretense for going after his political adversaries and dissenters.
I should know: I’m one of its victims. I am writing this essay from a prison cell in Camp Crame, the national Police Headquarters in Manila. I have spent the past two years here, after being arrested on fabricated drug-trafficking charges. But the only crime I committed was to use my platform as a senator to oppose the brutality of this administration’s campaign against drugs. And I hardly am the only target.
Mr. Duterte’s government has orchestrated the removal of a Supreme Court chief justice and harassed and sidelined Vice President Leni Robredo (she belongs to a different party). Independent media houses have been bullied with bogus criminal charges; one was effectively pressured into being sold to Duterte allies. The president has publicly threatened human rights activistsand others with death — never mind that he or his aides often then downplay his statements as lighthearted banter.
But most worrisome, perhaps, is the administration’s effort to cow what little remains of the formal political opposition, often through politicized criminal cases.
Take my case. In 2016, shortly after Mr. Duterte’s election, I opened a Senate investigation to look into extrajudicial killings that were being committed under the guise of fighting drug crimes. The president’s retribution was as swift as it was ruthless.
He once said, “I will have to destroy her in public.” He has called me an “immoral woman,” and in 2016 his allies claimed to possess a compromising sex video and threatened to show it to a congressional panel. In February 2017, I surrendered to the police after arrest warrants were issued against me. I have remained in detention since, facing three drug-related charges — for which the evidence is laughably thin. The United Nations, the European Union, various human rights groups and other experts have called the charges politically motivated.
Other opposition lawmakers have faced similar treatment, in particular those who oppose Mr. Duterte’s so-called war on drugs or other key administration policies, such as his efforts to bring back the death penalty or to revise the Constitution, most likely in order to remove limits on presidential terms. Many of these cases beggar belief. In October 2018, the Congressmen Antonio Tinio and Ariel Casilao organized a peaceful protest in Davao City against the continued application of martial law on the southern island of Mindanao, after brazen terrorist operations by an armed group linked to the Islamic State in the spring of 2017. The congressmen were then charged with child abuse, apparently because a handful of indigenous youth attended the demonstration.
Another frequent target is Senator Risa Hontiveros, a vocal critic of the government’s antidrug campaign. In 2017, Ms. Hontiveros helped shelter underage witnesses to the murder, by police officers, of a teenage boy. Although she was acting at the request of the witnesses’ parents — who understandably did not trust the police to keep their children safe — Ms. Hontiveros was charged with kidnapping (as well as for wiretapping).
This article was originally published in the New York Times.
