Detained Senator De Lima thanks supporters as she marks a year in jail

February 24, 2018

Senator Leila de Lima, detained for a year on illegal drug charges at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center, on Saturday thanked her supporters led by former President Benigno Aquino III, ex- Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and opposition senators who visited her on Saturday.

When asked what being detained is like, she said: “It is both too short and too long. It is both a curse and a blessing. It has both made me weaker and stronger.”

“It’s been too long. It’s been like an eternity, trapped in another world,” she continued, explaining that for someone innocent, to be held even just for one day is unbearable.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement "Senator de Lima's incarceration shows that the criminal justice system in the Philippines is alive, effective and working."

"She is the mother of all drug lords by allowing the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the National Bilibid Prison when she was the Department of Justice Secretary," Roque added.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said in a seperate interview as prosecutors are waiting for the court to say when hearings can proceed.

De Lima's lawyers have filed a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court on an earlier decision upholding her arrest warrant. The judge who issued the arrest warrant also inhibited herself from the case in January.

"Some of the judges have inhibited themselves and some are due to retirement," said Aguirre."If there is a delay, it is not caused by the prosecution." DMS