The Fort Worth Press - 'My work is not done': jailed Duterte critic runs for Senate

USD -
AED 3.673031
AFN 70.133986
ALL 94.635739
AMD 399.17399
ANG 1.799356
AOA 911.999459
ARS 1025.610128
AUD 1.60155
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.703082
BAM 1.8785
BBD 2.015848
BDT 119.310378
BGN 1.880197
BHD 0.376795
BIF 2952.312347
BMD 1
BND 1.356673
BOB 6.899102
BRL 6.376797
BSD 0.998415
BTN 84.985833
BWP 13.866398
BYN 3.267349
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009028
CAD 1.43405
CDF 2870.000253
CHF 0.884904
CLF 0.035853
CLP 989.289866
CNY 7.2988
CNH 7.306215
COP 4393.36
CRC 506.939442
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.90693
CZK 24.17465
DJF 177.793786
DKK 7.173032
DOP 60.817365
DZD 135.042981
EGP 50.761042
ERN 15
ETB 127.121932
EUR 0.959099
FJD 2.31865
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.782901
GEL 2.810241
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.676079
GIP 0.791982
GMD 72.000164
GNF 8628.919944
GTQ 7.690535
GYD 208.884407
HKD 7.77545
HNL 25.367142
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.547952
HUF 395.30326
IDR 16181.1
ILS 3.652565
IMP 0.791982
INR 85.398004
IQD 1307.880709
IRR 42087.5015
ISK 139.550177
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.558757
JOD 0.709299
JPY 155.373954
KES 129.040105
KGS 87.00044
KHR 4012.870384
KMF 466.124963
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1456.535047
KWD 0.30818
KYD 0.832061
KZT 517.226144
LAK 21834.509917
LBP 89407.001873
LKR 294.251549
LRD 181.712529
LSL 18.564664
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.901311
MAD 10.068386
MDL 18.420977
MGA 4709.215771
MKD 59.098113
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.98713
MRU 39.855929
MUR 47.069763
MVR 15.402829
MWK 1731.258704
MXN 20.164602
MYR 4.486979
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.564664
NGN 1541.159991
NIO 36.738222
NOK 11.27375
NPR 135.977525
NZD 1.768973
OMR 0.384508
PAB 0.998415
PEN 3.717812
PGK 4.05225
PHP 58.660558
PKR 277.955434
PLN 4.094085
PYG 7786.582145
QAR 3.631177
RON 4.7843
RSD 112.517971
RUB 99.841749
RWF 1392.786822
SAR 3.74859
SBD 8.383555
SCR 14.257023
SDG 601.499535
SEK 10.866896
SGD 1.3505
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.789851
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 570.619027
SRD 35.058002
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.736493
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.572732
THB 34.140375
TJS 10.922538
TMT 3.51
TND 3.183499
TOP 2.342101
TRY 35.195302
TTD 6.784805
TWD 32.709099
TZS 2420.583999
UAH 41.863132
UGX 3654.612688
UYU 44.441243
UZS 12889.593238
VES 51.575851
VND 25430
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 630.031215
XAG 0.033795
XAU 0.000382
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.7655
XOF 630.031215
XPF 114.546415
YER 250.375032
ZAR 18.750415
ZMK 9001.189851
ZMW 27.630985
ZWL 321.999592
  • RELX

    0.3000

    45.89

    +0.65%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    58.86

    -0.27%

  • VOD

    0.0600

    8.43

    +0.71%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    36.26

    +0.11%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    34.03

    -0.09%

  • RBGPF

    59.8000

    59.8

    +100%

  • BP

    0.0400

    28.79

    +0.14%

  • RIO

    -0.0300

    59.2

    -0.05%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.24

    -0.14%

  • CMSC

    -0.1321

    23.77

    -0.56%

  • SCS

    0.0800

    11.73

    +0.68%

  • AZN

    -0.3300

    66.3

    -0.5%

  • BCC

    0.9500

    123.19

    +0.77%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    22.9

    +0.26%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    23.65

    +0.42%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.15

    +0.41%

'My work is not done': jailed Duterte critic runs for Senate
'My work is not done': jailed Duterte critic runs for Senate

'My work is not done': jailed Duterte critic runs for Senate

From behind bars, Philippine senator and human rights campaigner Leila de Lima is running for re-election in an against-the-odds campaign that gives her the chance to once again "go after" President Rodrigo Duterte.

Text size:

De Lima was one of the most vocal and powerful local critics of Duterte after he took power in 2016 and launched a deadly drug war -- until he and his allies tried to stifle her.

But despite being forced from the Senate and into a jail cell for the past five years on drug trafficking charges she and human rights groups call a mockery of justice, de Lima has not been "destroyed" as Duterte vowed.

Instead, the 62-year-old is running again for the Senate in May's national elections, determined to continue her campaign against him.

"I am running because, to put it plainly, my work is not done," she told AFP in handwritten notes on Senate stationery sent from Manila's national police headquarters, where she is being held.

"I was jailed because I fought for truth and justice against tyranny and impunity. I was not wrong to do so and I will keep fighting to prove that what I have been fighting for is worth the sacrifice."

Before her arrest on February 24, 2017, de Lima had spent a decade investigating "death squad" killings allegedly orchestrated by Duterte during his time as Davao City mayor and then in the early days of his presidency.

She conducted the probes while serving as the nation's human rights commissioner, then from 2010 to 2015 as justice secretary in the Benigno Aquino administration that preceded Duterte's rule.

De Lima won a Senate seat in 2016, becoming one of the few opposition voices as the populist enjoyed a landslide win.

But Duterte then accused her of running a drug trafficking ring with criminals inside the nation's biggest prison while she was justice secretary.

The charges were "an act of vengeance" by Duterte to silence her and warn others not to oppose him, said de Lima, who is not allowed bail.

But de Lima hopes she will soon get justice.

Duterte, constitutionally barred from seeking re-election and facing an international probe into his drug war, will lose protection from criminal charges when he leaves office.

"Justice for me is the dismissal of my cases and the prosecution of Duterte and all those who knowingly fabricated and filed fake charges against me," she said.

- 'I'm stronger than I thought' -

De Lima is being held in a compound for high-profile detainees, rather than one of the Philippines' notoriously overcrowded jails.

Her relatively comfortable conditions give her access to outdoor space where she can exercise, tend a small garden and feed more than 10 stray cats.

She is allowed newspapers, has a collection of books given to her by friends, and a Bible that she reads in the evening.

But it is a solitary life.

Before the pandemic she was allowed to see "almost anyone", she said. Now, she is largely limited to brief visits from her two sons, lawyers, doctors, priests and selected staff.

De Lima, whose marriage was annulled, has not seen her teenage grandchildren in two years, nor her ailing 89-year-old mother in more than three years.

She still works, but with no access to a mobile phone or internet, she cannot participate in Senate debates and hearings.

Instead, she handwrites messages, letters and other documents that her aides pick up.

Routine keeps her sane.

"I learned not to entertain negative thoughts and instead think of my family and the people who believe in me and are fighting with me," she said.

"I'm much stronger than I thought."

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

Since her arrest, one of the three charges against her has been dismissed and two prosecution witnesses have died.

That her court cases have dragged on for so long is not unusual in the Philippines, where even minor cases take years to work their way through the creaky justice system.

Covid-19 has made the process even slower.

De Lima said she is optimistic that no matter who succeeds Duterte, she will be freed soon afterwards.

The next justice secretary "will not have the motivation to continue fabricating evidence against me," she said.

And she said she had no regrets in seeking to shine a light on Duterte.

"A public official like him who has committed crimes against humanity should be brought to justice," she said.

At least 6,225 people have died in anti-drug operations since July 2016, according to the latest official Philippine data. Rights groups say the number is in the tens of thousands.

De Lima said her run for a second Senate term is driven by a desire to "help salvage" human rights, democracy and rule of the law in the country -- but also revenge.

"I also want to have the opportunity to go after Duterte and all those responsible for my fate, aside from making them accountable for the thousands of murders they have committed and the billions they have plundered," she said.

But de Lima conceded winning one of the 12 Senate seats would be hard, and polls show she is unlikely to succeed.

While she was allowed to record campaign videos in late December, she has to rely on proxies to attend rallies -- and whatever radio and television advertising she can afford.

Yet she remains characteristically defiant.

"I draw strength from the truth of my innocence," she said.

M.Delgado--TFWP