Words by: Carlo Alfonso Sales and Alex Dia
“Leila is also a fighter. She always has been.”
These were the words of the late Atty. Sixto Brillantes in 2016, esteemed Bedan lawyer and professor, amidst growing political tensions marked by rumors of her impending arrest and the concerted machinations toward that end. She was detained under drug-related charges soon after. On November 13, 2023, de Lima was finally granted bail—and provisional freedom—after six long years of incarceration for being one of the few who sat in power and remained undaunted in the face of state-sanctioned injustice.
A prisoner of conscience
De Lima is the staunchest critic of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his “war on drugs”: the epidemic of extrajudicial murders that has since left an estimated 7,742 dead, including suspected criminals, gang members, and street children. Ironically both Bedan lawyers and former students of Brillantes, the adversary political figures sat on their respective positions on the same day following the 2016 National Elections. Swiftly challenging Duterte in the halls of the legislature, de Lima demanded a Senate inquiry into the killings two weeks later.
In another apparent move to silence his critics, Duterte publicly claimed that de Lima presided over the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison while serving as Secretary of Justice, a seat she held from 2010 until 2016. Following the issuance of a warrant of arrest based thereon, de Lima refused political asylum and continues to fight off her charges in the Philippines as she maintains her innocence.
The timeline of legal proceedings of de Lima’s cases is as follows:
On February 24, 2017, de Lima was arrested for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Three days later, she filed a petition to annul the arrest warrant. However, on March 9, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) argued for the dismissal of de Lima’s petition and accused her of falsifying documents on March 13.
In July, European Parliaments visited de Lima in detention. The following year, some judges recused themselves from de Lima’s case. On June 6, 2018, the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed de Lima’s arrest. In August, de Lima was arraigned but refused to enter a plea. The National Bureau of Investigation issued a subpoena to de Lima in September.
In 2020, the SC dismissed de Lima’s petition for habeas data in January. De Lima filed for bail for one of the charges in June and another bail for another charge in August. In December, the DOJ cited de Lima’s counsel in contempt.
In 2021, de Lima was acquitted of one of the charges in February. In October, she filed her certificate of candidacy for Senator. The following year, in April, Kerwin Espinosa retracted his confession against de Lima. In June, Marcelo Addorco, a witness against de Lima, withdrew his statements. In August, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the bribery charges against de Lima.
On February 24, 2023, de Lima filed a motion seeking her release or bail. In May, de Lima was acquitted in a drug trade case by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Muntinlupa but remained in detention. Later that month, DOJ prosecutors filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the acquittal. In June, de Lima’s bail petition was denied by the RTC of Muntinlupa.
Later in June, Judge Buenaventure of the RTC of Muntinlupa Branch 256 voluntarily inhibited himself from the case. The case was reassigned to Judge Alcantara of the RTC of Muntinlupa Branch 204 at the end of June. However, Judge Alcantara voluntarily inhibited himself from the case in July. The case was then reassigned to Judge Gito of the RTC of Muntinlupa Branch 206.
Finally, on November 13, 2023, Judge Gito of the RTC of Muntinlupa Branch 206 granted de Lima’s bail petition for her remaining drug case, after more than six years in detention. The bail amount was set at 300,000.00.
Fight far from over
De Lima is no longer in prison. Duterte is no longer President, but de Lima isn’t keen to move on so quickly. While her body has languished in prison, her spirit is as indomitable as ever—not for revenge harbored from her ordeal within the last six years, but for justice that remains elusive for the victims of the war on drugs and their families.
“I will assist in whatever capacity it takes to build the ICC case, against Duterte and all others responsible for those senseless killings,” said de Lima fiercely after her release. “That’s my priority. My own cases against Mr. Duterte can probably take a backseat first.”
The worsened human rights situation under the previous administration persists as acts of aggression, intimidation, and killing continue to victimize activists, journalists, and other targeted groups, with the most recent murder in November 2023. But in politically fraught times of oppression, one must not falter—on the contrary, just like de Lima, it is when we are most needed to be not only resolute but defiant, in our principles.
THE BARRISTER 