UN experts reiterate call for De Lima’s release

United Nations experts described the court's decision to junk former Senator Leila de Lima's petition for bail as a “grave disappointment” as they again called for her immediate release.

“The decision to deny bail comes after more than six years of arbitrary detention. It is high time for the administration of President Marcos Jr. to close this case once and for all, provide compensation and other reparations, and investigate the circumstances that allowed this to happen in the first place,” said the UN experts in a statement. 

A Muntinlupa court denied de Lima's bail for petition on June 7, 2023. It is the third and last remaining drug case against de Lima.

The Court said it did not find De Lima’s grounds for bail compelling and that her plea for provisional liberty on humanitarian considerations is “untenable.”

De Lima's camp has already filed a motion for the court to reconsider the junking of her bail petition. Three of De Lima’s co-accused also filed a motion asking Judge Romeo Buenaventura to stop handling their case due to several reasons.

Judge Buenaventura has already inhibited from the case.

The former senator has been detained at Camp Crame since 2017 over allegations of involvement in the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison. She has repeatedly denied the charges.

“We are deeply concerned that after six years of arbitrary detention, Leila de Lima will now continue to be detained after her bail application was denied,” the UN experts said.

The UN experts  mentioned that in August 2018, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that her detention was arbitrary and that her deprivation of liberty was a result of her personal beliefs and public statements regarding extrajudicial killings in the Philippines during the administration of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

De Lima has been acquitted in her two other drug cases. The first acquittal came in February 2021 at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205, while the second came in May at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204. —Sherylin Untalan/ VAL, GMA Integrated News