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De Lima to Lacson: Don't belittle int'l groups calling for my release


Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday urged Senator Panfilo Lacson not to belittle international organizations calling for her release.

In a handwritten statement released from her detention at Camp Crame, De Lima said these international groups are simply "standing for what is right and just."

"Sen. Lacson should not disparage these international organizations, all reputable ones, which are simply standing for what is right and just, hence, their expressions of concern, if not disgust, about the injustice of it all," she said.

Lacson had said that international groups "have no business in arrogantly asking our President to release Sen. De Lima."

She added that she seemed to sense bitterness in Lacson's statement.

"I hope I'm wrong in sensing some bitterness in Senator Lacson's scoffing at international groups, the latest being the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) in calling for my immediate release," De Lima said.

"Sana hindi po maranasan ni Sen. Lacson na makulong na walang kasalanan," she added.

She reiterated that she was innocent of the drug charges filed against her.

"Inosente ako. At hindi ako nagtago, sa kabila ng sobrang panggigipit sakin ng rehimen na ito na gumawa ng mga imbentong akusasyon labas sa 'kin," she said.

Lacson went into hiding for over a year -- from January 2010 to March 2011 -- after being charged with double murder over the killings of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. He has been cleared of the charge.

The European Union, Inter-Parliamentary Union, and International Commission Jurists, are among the groups that have separately called for De Lima’s release.

De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since February over allegations that she was involved in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison. —Jessica Bartolome/ALG, GMA News

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