Freeing De Lima
January 23, 2023 · By Francisco S. Tatad for www.manilatimes.net
Freeing De Lima
LEILA de Lima was a senator of the Republic who served most of her elective term from 2016 to 2022 at the Camp Came police headquarters detention center in Quezon City for an alleged crime that was never proved. The witnesses have recanted, but she is still there.
In February 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte had her charged and arrested for having allegedly received money from drug lords while she was secretary of justice and in charge of the Bureau of Corrections. She was never tried or convicted of this charge, but obviously because of some extra-legal reasons, she was not allowed to post bail.
In 2009, as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), de Lima decided to investigate the extrajudicial killings (EJK) in Davao when Duterte was still its mayor. From 2010 to 2015, when she was President B. S. Aquino 3rd’s justice secretary, she worked on a 2007 electoral sabotage case that led to the imprisonment of her former boss, former president Arroyo.
At that time GMA was confined at St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig for a back ailment and was trying to get the Supreme Court to allow her to travel to Singapore for medical treatment. By a vote of eight to five, the court agreed to grant her leave. But de Lima blocked the court order, preventing GMA from leaving the country. This raised bitter recriminations about gratitude and personal integrity.
Elected to the Senate in 2016, the same year Duterte became president, de Lima pursued her interest in EJK under Duterte. As chairperson of the Senate committee on human rights and justice, she delivered two privilege speeches calling for an end to the spate of killings and launched an investigation on the EJKs. Duterte’s senator-allies removed her as committee chair and terminated her inquiry.
On Feb. 24, 2017, Duterte had her arrested on the charge of having allegedly received protection money from drug lords while she was justice secretary and in charge of the New Bilibid Prison. Testifying against her was one Rafael Ragos, a former officer in charge of the Bureau of Corrections, who claimed in a sworn statement that he had delivered money to her from drug lords.
Another witness, Kerwin Espinosa, a self-confessed “drug lord,” told a Senate hearing in November 2016 that he delivered drug money to de Lima through Ronnie Dayan, her driver and alleged “boyfriend.” This allegation did not become part of the formal charge against her but was used to blacken her reputation by smearing her private life.
In the last May election, de Lima lost her reelection bid. But prior to that, on April 30, 2022, witness Rafael Ragos recanted his previous testimony about delivering drug lords’ money to de Lima. He said his testimony was false and coerced, given upon instruction of his immediate superior at the time, Duterte’s secretary of justice Vitaliano Aguirre. Similarly, Kerwin Espinosa said he had given false testimony against de Lima after the police threatened the lives of members of his family.
Clearing de Lima of the charges, and freeing her from her long imprisonment entails a well-defined legal process. Our legal system should be fully competent to handle it. But it can only be facilitated if it does not adversely affect BBM’s political and personal relationship with his immediate predecessor and supporter, who should also be willing to make peace with his former critic.
The impending closure of this case gives the government an opportunity to recover some of its lost prestige and improve its human rights record. In 2017, Filipino lawyer Jude Sabio, now deceased, filed a complaint with Faith Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, accusing Duterte of “mass murder” in the Philippines.
The ICC is the international tribunal established by the Statute of Rome in 1998. It entered into force in 2002, with the authority to try cases against individuals, but not states, involving genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. The court assumes jurisdiction only if the member-state where the crime was committed is unwilling or unable to prosecute the offense.
In 2011, the Philippines joined 138 other treaty signatories and became a member of the court. It was on this basis that Sabio filed his complaint. In 2018, Bensouda “examined” the complaint preparatory to a formal “investigation” of the charges. But before Bensouda could take another step, Duterte withdrew from the statute and the court, effective March 17, 2019. This automatically lifted ICC jurisdiction over the crimes alleged in the complaint, except those that happened between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019, when the Philippines was still a member of the court.
Duterte pulled out from the court, without first finding out his real chances in the ICC process. He leaped without bothering to look. A number of African politicians, including some highly controversial ones, have been acquitted and vindicated after they decided to fight it out in court. Who knows, Duterte might have achieved a legendary victory had he accepted ICC jurisdiction and prevailed either in a trial or in its appellate process.
