De Lima: SC ruling ‘legitimizes oppression, political persecution’

Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday said she was “pained” by the Supreme Court’s (SC) 9-6 vote junking her plea to nullify her arrest, saying the decision “legitimizes oppression and political persecution.”

De Lima said she hoped the nine justices who voted against her petition could feel the “pain of someone who is sent to prison and yet is innocent of any crime, and has merely fallen victim to the strong arm of the State and the President’s deeply-rooted vengeance against her.”

“The SC’s majority decision tells us the extent to which Dutertism has distorted reason, suppressed the truth and rejected the primacy of conscience,” De Lima said in a statement written from her detention facility at the national police headquarters.

“The decision legitimizes oppression and political persecution,” she added.

De Lima said her lawyers will appeal the SC’s decision, as “there is no other recourse but to go on fighting, especially when one is innocent as I truly am.”

“Every day spent behind bars on bogus charges brings pain and untold sufferings. But it also strengthens resolve,” she said.

Voting 9 to 6, the high court dismissed for lack of merit De Lima’s petition that questioned the issuance of an arrest warrant by Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 last February.

In her petition, De Lima asked the SC to set aside the arrest warrant, stop Judge Guerrero from conducting further proceedings for the cases of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading and culpability of government officials and employees, and issue a status quo ante order aimed at restoring the status prior to the issuance of arrest warrant.

The senator said Judge Guerrero committed grave abuse of discretion when she ordered her arrest on February 23 even without resolving her motion to quash that was supposed to have been heard the next day, February 24.

She said the cases should have been referred by the Department of Justice to the Office of the Ombudsman, which has primary jurisdiction over cases cognizable by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

De Lima thanked the six dissenters for standing their ground.

“I take heart though in the thought that six dissenters - all venerable magistrates - stood their ground. I honor them with a profound thanks and admiration for their courage and fealty to their sworn duty,” she said.

De Lima, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, has been detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame since February over allegations that she is involved in the Bilibid drug trade. — RSJ, GMA News