Thread: Philippine Leader’s Loudest Critic Arrested on Drug Charges

MANILA, PHILIPPINES —
A Philippine opposition senator and leading critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly anti-drug crackdown was arrested Friday on drug charges but professed her innocence and vowed she would not be intimidated by a leader she called a “serial killer.”

Sen. Leila de Lima’s arrest came a day after the Regional Trial Court in Muntinlupa city in the Manila metropolis issued the warrant for her arrest along with other officials who have been charged by state prosecutors for allegedly receiving bribes from detained drug lords.

De Lima has denied the charges, which she said were part of an attempt by Duterte to muzzle critics of his crackdown, which has left more than 7,000 drug suspects dead. She questioned why the court suddenly issued the arrest order when it was scheduled Friday to hear her petition to void the three nonbailable charges.

“If they think they can silence me, if they think I will no longer fight for my advocacies, specially on the truth on the daily killings and other intimidations of this Duterte regime, it’s my honor to be jailed for what I’ve been fighting for,” she said before policemen took her into custody at the Senate.

A history opposing Duterte

A police convoy, trailed by media vans, took de Lima to the main police camp, where officers will take her photograph and fingerprints before her detention.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella called de Lima’s arrest “a major step forward in the administration’s anti-drug war.”

When de Lima headed the government’s Commission on Human Rights, she tried unsuccessfully to have Duterte prosecuted when he was mayor of Davao city for allegedly unlawful deaths that occurred during an anti-drug crackdown in the city. No witnesses came forward then to testify against the mayor, human rights officials said.

Duterte expanded the crackdown nationwide after becoming president last June, and de Lima has continued to criticize him after winning a Senate seat last year.

In one of her strongest statements against the president this week, de Lima called Duterte a “sociopathic serial killer” who has not been made to answer for more than 1,000 deaths during his crackdown in Davao city as its mayor and now for the thousands of drug suspects killed in his national fight against illegal drugs.

She urged Duterte’s Cabinet members to declare him unfit to serve as president. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II warned that such remarks were seditious, but de Lima replied that Aguirre and Duterte are “the rebels and inciters against a constitutional order that values life and due process above everything else.”

Case may be a 'wake-up call'

Prosecutors allege that de Lima, while she was justice secretary under former President Benigno Aquino III, received bribes from detained drug lords to finance her senatorial campaign, and they say some of the drug lords would testify against her. The bribes were allegedly solicited by her former driver and lover, who was also charged and arrested Thursday in northern Pangasinan province.

Duterte has lashed out at de Lima with foul language, calling her a sex-crazed immoral woman whose election opened “the portals of the national government ... to narco politics.”

De Lima said the case against her might be the “wakeup call” the country needs, referring to the absence of a public outcry in the country over the killings in the anti-drug campaign.

De Lima said people were starting to fight back, citing recent accounts by a former militiaman and a retired police officer who acknowledged their roles as assassins in the Davao deaths and Duterte’s alleged involvement in the killings.

Philippine Leader?s Loudest Critic Arrested on Drug Charges

Could this be the next president, if she lives?...She's got "balls"...Good for her...

"sedition" is mutually exclusive of a functioning democratic opposition.

^^Nope, she won't be. She's only a senator. The next-in-line is VP Leni Robredo. A good egg, IMO, but a relative newbie in politics. Her husband was a cabinet member in the former admin and he "unfortunately died" in a helicopter accident as the heli was on its way back to Manila from a provincial visit. I think there's an article/pic of Leni Robredo in the Duterte PI thread.

Duturte's admin doesn't like Robredo, since she's not from their crowd and belongs to a different Party. There's a court case filed by Bongbong Marcos to declare her win as void so that he'll be the VP. <cough>

Re: De Lima, she's been at odds with Duterte since the presidential campaign, and has been very vocal against him. They don't like each other. lol. The arrest of De Lima wasn't big news for the office water cooler ppl. Not much talk about it.

There are vids of Duterte smirking (is that the right word?) after he shook hands with De Lima - after he delivered the state of the nation address. Let me find the vid.

Vid of Duterte and De Lima shaking hands. See his reaction afterwards.

Originally Posted by katie23

Vid of Duterte and De Lima shaking hands.

Do you think De Lima did it?

Is Duterte as fucked up and crazy as the media portrays him?

Do you support the guy?

@slick - Re: De Lima, I don't know if she did it. There are many reports of "evidence" against her, re: the druglords' monetary contributions when she was still secretary of Justice. There's a sex vid scandal of her/her driver (allegedly) - dunno if they're still on utube. Google it, if interested. (heh) When she was in the DOJ, she did some good, so I have mixed feelings about her.

Re: Duterte, I didn't vote for him, and I don't like many of his policies. Some of his changes at the local or national level have been good, though, e.g. 10 pm curfew for minors, no karaoke after 10 pm, some streets are cleaner, less traffic, etc. But traffic is still terrible in Metro Manila, and corruption is still rampant. I also don't like the moves that he's made in the international scene. He's very rash and doesn't think about what he says, which makes the markets (and business community) unsteady.

He'll say something stupid/rash, the press will magnify it, stocks will go down. After some days, his cabinet officers will say that he was misquoted/misunderstood, and that he meant something else, blah blah. Rinse and repeat.

Read the last few pages of the Duterte PI thread, if interested. More info/comments there.

Re: democracy, I still think we have it better than other ASEAN neighbors, bcos I can say these things here, and the press can say what they want. There's no lese majeste or oral defamation laws. We don't have martial law and we (as a ppl) have been able to oust 2 presidents (1986 & 2000) in a bloodless manner. We value our democracy, as we've fought for it and earned it.

Btw, today is the anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution (1986). It's a holiday, and I don't have work today. Yay!

Hi Katie, very good post that, i do like to hear opinions from a local rather than having to decipher the snippets of news from mainstream media, I initially thought that duterte might of been a welcome change in Filipino politics, but his antics thus far I find quite disturbing, he has already hinted at martial law. Reckon you guys might be getting another coup before to long. Bloodless or not. You might end up with another holiday though, lol. Seriously though. As an outsider looking in I reckon the shit will hit the fan before the end of the year. Sure wish flips would stop voting with there emotions and electing third rate movie stars and provincial gangsters. Thats never going to help a limping economy

Philippine Leader’s Loudest Critic Arrested on Drug Charges
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...I think a pattern is emerging...

I also was generally impressed with her when she was in the DOJ. I think the 'evidence' is fabricated. She's guilty of antagonizing Duterte, and is being silenced.

Trillanes and the VP are next.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I think the 'evidence' is fabricated.

Originally Posted by katie23

and I don't like many of his policies.

How do you guys feel about Duterte clearly being monetarily driven to sell out the Philippines to China?

Originally Posted by Slick

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I think the 'evidence' is fabricated.

Originally Posted by katie23

and I don't like many of his policies.

How do you guys feel about Duterte clearly being monetarily driven to sell out the Philippines to China?

Can't say I've seen any evidence of that.

Originally Posted by tomcat

Flips are used to selling out...if they're smart, the elites will sell islands, infrastructure, next-century's crops, whatever to the highest bidder...if the US wants access to bases they've already paid for, pay up again...if not, the Chinese will buy Luzon and claim it's in their exclusion zone...When things really go south, however, Duterte will seek asylum in Hawaii. The Flips left behind will be screaming for the US navy...

sorry mate, can't agree with you . In fact it looks you know fuck all about the place,have you ever been there?

nope...not once...and have no intention to visit those benighted islands. My opinions of the folks there come from years in the ME where I never met one that didn't eventually have his hand out...

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

sorry mate, can't agree with you

I wasn't actually looking for agreement...just stating an opinion...

Originally Posted by tomcat

nope...not once...and have no intention to visit those benighted islands. My opinions of the folks there come from years in the ME where I never met one that didn't eventually have his hand out...

thats pretty sad tomcat. I've been visiting and sometimes working in the Philippines for last 30 years. I find the flips to be genuinely friendly folk with an awesome sense of humour, your attitudes holding you back from visiting one of asias best kept secrects, Never mind I'm sure they will get over it if you don't turn up.

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

I find the flips to be genuinely friendly folk with an awesome sense of humour

...agree, but still note the outstretched hand and an enthusiastic blessing from Jesus for your help...

^It's a beautiful sunny day here in Luzon. The birds are tweeting, the ducks are quacking and the cocks are crowing. Duterte is in Manila, De Lima is in jail, and most of the Chinese are still in the mainland. It's true that there are many pinoys in the ME, some good, some bad, but all are sending money to their families here.

May God (or Buddha) bless you and your family, Tomcat. Heh.

Originally Posted by tomcat

and an enthusiastic blessing from Jesus for your help

Originally Posted by katie23

May God (or Buddha) bless you and your family, Tomcat

...persistent devils...