“If injustice could be done to Leila, a sitting Senator, injustice could be done to anyone. One therefore is challenged to make a personal inquiry: What could I do; and if I have done something, is it enough?”
“She faces obstacles and difficulties that would make stronger men shudder, yet Senator Leila is not constrained and limited by them. She draws strength from her ordeal and finds ways to give voice to the people’s cries, prison and all.”
“The way the President, the Secretary of Injustice continue berating her is really cause for a mistrial because her right to a due process is outrageously being violated.”
“To allow the continued detention of [De Lima] under this Information is one of the grossest injustices ever perpetrated in recent memory in full view of the Filipino nation and the entire world.”
“Your detention is the biggest symbol of what is wrong with our country; but your faith and courage is also the best symbol of hope for what we can do to heal this land.”
“In a word, De Lima is in detention for the wrong crime — deliberately put in a maze of cement walls and barbed wire by the government’s chief lawyer, no less, with the consent of the justice secretary himself. This is not a mere technicality (“the difference between provisions doesn’t really matter, as long as she is in jail”) but a travesty (“she was accused of one thing, but is detained for another”).”
“I hope that those who still doubt my innocence and those who swallowed hook, line and sinker the lies that are being peddled against me will, one day, be able to tell the difference between accusations and proof; that the utter absence of the latter speaks louder than the lies of men…”
“For the least, the last and the lost among my countrymen, I continue to fight for you. For my family who give me strength, I will never give up. For those who keep praying for my freedom, my deepest gratitude goes to you.”
“Despite the continued demonization and persecution, with virtual judicial imprimatur, I will never lose heart and will never abandon my convictions. Unbowed and unbroken I shall remain.”
“To my oppressors: Jailing me despite my innocence is your burden to keep. To the Filipino people: No matter the persecution, I will never stop fighting.”
“My persecutors thought that putting someone like me in jail will isolate me until I wither into oblivion. I have to say, in my 10 years in public service, this has been the most liberating and most engaging experience of my life.”
“I am detained, not because I am guilty of any offense, but because they fear defenders of human rights. They fear those who will stand up for the poor, the defenseless and the oppressed, for we are what stands between them and their consolidation of absolute power and dominion.”
© 2019 Office of Sen. Leila de Lima. All rights reserved.
