Dispatch from Crame No. 693: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Statement on Panelo’s and Guevarra’s Defense of My Persecution
Presidential Spokesperson Panelo and DOJ Secretary Guevarra insist that the government is observing due process in my case and that my trial follows the regular judicial process. This is a lie. Due process in form only, i.e., a sham trial rooted in a patently bogus charge, is NO due process. Duterte himself targeted me for […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 692: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s statement on Duterte’s statements urging ABS-CBN to sell
The President’s statements against ABS-CBN is eerily reminiscent of his public remarks urging me to kill myself: an obscene display of an authoritarian’s propensity to abuse his office for his own twisted ends. The law is clear on this matter. Whatever perceived slight he experienced from ABS-CBN is a matter for the courts to pass […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 691: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s New Year’s Message of thanks and prayer
Thank you, dear Lord, for all the blessings, mostly unexpected, in the exiting year, and for further blessings in the coming year! Thank you for constantly watching over me, with your boundless mercy and grace! Thank you, Mama Mary, for your loving intercession that I ceaselessly plead. Mine is a firm faith that right must […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 690: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Response on the Statements of US Senators Leahy and Durbin
Instead of getting intimidated by Duterte’s retaliatory moves, US Senators Leahy and Durbin have bravely stood their ground, and even called out the threat to deny PH visa to Americans. Senator Leahy described the act as “irrational”, while Senator Durbin dubbed it as a “strong-arm tactic”. They both nailed it on the head. Thanks Senators […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 689: Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the Duterte administration’s response to the US entry ban
The admin forked tongues argue that the US visa ban on those officials responsible for my persecution and unjust detention is baseless because I am afforded legal process. Another rain of truth twisting and propaganda. Let’s not forget that this is the same regime that opened the floodgates of drugs and corruption in the country. […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 688: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Statement on the Attempts to Obfuscate the Issue, Re: U.S. Entry Ban
The obfuscation coming from the DDS camp regarding the US visa ban enacted in the 2020 US Appro Law, as intitiated by their amateur ideologue-blogger RJ Nieto and echoed by officials like the Senate President, reflects panic, confusion, fear, and denial among their ranks, especially those with a lot to lose like access to their […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 687: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Response to ‘Thinking Pinoy’s Claim of Fake News on the US Entry Ban
To ‘Thinking Pinoy’, I note with gladness that you at least made the effort to look up the Appropriations Law before commenting. However, interpreting US appropriations Law requires more due diligence than just looking at one document and, thereafter, promptly concluding that it does not contain the provision banning my persecutors from entry into the […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 686: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Statement on Bill Browder and the Global Magnitsky Act
Bill Browder, the British fund manager and activist who pushed for the Magnitsky Act, welcomes its application on Philippine officials as a powerful tool against oppressors and human rights violators. His grandfather, Earl Browder, the American trade unionist who, in 1927, met with and helped Philippine labor leaders establish relations with communist Russia, would have […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 685: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Statement on Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s remarks on the US travel ban
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo does not seem to understand the US Appropriations bill that was just signed into law by the US President. Panelo says he hopes the US Secretary of State is more properly informed than the US Senators who introduced the amendment on the US travel ban, an amendment that was unanimously approved […]
Dispatch from Crame No. 684: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s Statement on the Reported Banning of Families of Political Prisoners from Visiting them in Camp Bagong Diwa
Political persecution under the Duterte Administration has reached another low with the unjustified barring of families of political prisoners from visiting their loved ones in detention at Camp Bagong Diwa. I condemn this blatant violation of the rights of these Persons Deprived of Liberty. The timing of this latest harassment couldn’t be anymore worse, considering […]