DE LIMA RETURNS TO SENATE: Former Sen. Leila De Lima faces her accuser former President Rodrigo Duterte during the Senate hearing on the war on drugs on October 28, 2024. De Lima was elected senator in 2016 and was arrested in 2017 on drug charges. On June 24, 2024, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court granted De Lima鈥檚 petition for demurrer to evidence on her third and last charge involving her alleged conspiracy in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison, eventually dismissing the case and acquitting her from all criminal cases. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Former senator Leila De Lima told Filipinos to 鈥渃hoose courage鈥� on the 39th anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship.
鈥淲e are once again being asked to forget. To look away as history is rewritten, as our institutions are hollowed out, as those who orchestrated suffering are not only welcomed back into power but celebrated,鈥� De Lima said in a statement on Tuesday.
鈥淚 refuse. And I ask you to refuse with me. So today, as we mark another year since we reclaimed our freedom, I call on every Filipino: Reject fear. Reject lies. Reject complacency. Choose courage. Choose action. Choose to fight, again and always,鈥� she added.
READ: Feb 25 school holidays: Protesting 鈥榙istortion of history鈥�
The former senator recalled her imprisonment from 2017 to 2023 for alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade after she earned the ire of then-president Rodrigo Duterte.
De Lima was acquitted of the final drug case against her in June 2024.
鈥淚 was imprisoned for 2,454 days, locked away for crimes I did not commit because I dared to confront the powerful. I know what it means to have your rights stripped away,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 know what it means to be silenced, demonized, and left to rot by a government that believes it can act with impunity. But I also know what it means to resist鈥攖o hold on, to fight back, and to prove that they can jail a person, but never the truth,鈥� De Lima added.
READ: Leila de Lima case: 2024 brings justice, freedom
She is now running for a congressional seat under the Mamamayang Liberal party-list.