I’m disappointed that SP Sotto doesn’t seem to get the point.
He was quoted to have said in a Twitter post: “Did they do that to former SP Enrile and Sens. Revilla and Estrada?”, referring to the recent US Senate and House of Representatives condemning my continued detention and calling for my immediate release.
Well, such disparity, as lamented by the Senate President, simply shows that those US lawmakers, just like the many other parliamentarians belonging to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), European Union (EU), Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), Australian and Canadian Parliaments who earlier issued separate statements expressing concern about my continued detention and called for my 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.
And let’s not forget the fairly recent Opinion rendered by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), finding as arbitrary the deprivation of my liberty and concluded that I have been the “target of partisan persecution.”
Verily, with many other reputable organizations such as Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Liberal International (LI) and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), consistently 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.
I hope SP Sotto and others stop comparing my situation with that of the three (3) PDAF senators. Malayo po. Malayong malayo po.
Naranasan ba ng tatlong dating Senador yung mga ginawa sakin ni 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? 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?
Kayo na lang po ang sumagot sa mga katanungan na yan.
Mabuti pa ang mga mambabatas sa ibang bansa. Tunay nilang naiintindihan at nagmamalasakit sa sitwasyon ko. Ganyan rin sana ang mga kasamahan ko sa Senado. Konting respeto at pag-unawa man lang sa kapwa nila Senador. ###