De Lima to Duterte: It鈥檚 your time to face charges
Former Sen. Leila de Lima (left) and former President Rodrigo Duterte (GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE; MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — After standing up before the courts due to the cases filed against her, former Sen. Leila de Lima said it is now time for to face his share of raps and let the rule of law take its course.
De Lima on Tuesday admitted that Duterte’s arrest, based on the arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), is personal for her since she believes she was imprisoned due to her criticism of the past administration’s drug war.
Duterte was held earlier by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to implement the for the ICC arrest order.
This is for the alleged crimes against humanity of mass murder charges filed against the ex-leader.
“This is deeply personal for me. For almost seven years, I was imprisoned on fabricated charges, accused of crimes I did not commit — all because I dared to speak out against Duterte’s drug war. While I was behind bars, thousands of Filipinos were killed without justice, their families left to grieve with no answers, no accountability,” she said.
“I faced my case, knowing I was innocent. I stood before the courts because I had nothing to hide. Duterte now has to answer for his actions, not in the court of public opinion but before the rule of law. This is how justice should work—those in power must be held to the same standards as everyone else,” she added.
De Lima said that Duterte was being made to answer now because the world refuses to forget his actions.
“Today, Duterte is being made to answer — not to me, but to the victims, to their families, to a world that refuses to forget. This is not about vengeance. This is about justice finally taking its course,” de Lima said.
“To those who have fought this long and difficult fight—your voices mattered, your courage mattered, and today, the pursuit of justice continues,” she added.
Justice, accountability
Earlier, de Lima’s party-list group Mamamayang Liberal also maintained that Duterte’s arrest is not about retribution but rather is merely the service of justice and the pursuit of accountability for all the extrajudicial killing (EJKs) victims of the past administration’s drug war.
According to the group, the arrest is a reminder that while justice may take time, it will always find its way.
Over the weekend, there were rumors that the ICC would soon issue an arrest order for Duterte.
During this time, the former president, his relatives, and key allies flew to Hong Kong to meet overseas Filipino workers.
Duterte was slapped with complaints before the ICC over his administration’s war on drugs, where thousands of individuals were killed.
While many lauded Duterte’s campaign, it was also flagged by human rights defenders for being violent and bloody.
In Hong Kong, the older Duterte addressed talks on the arrest order, saying that his actions during the war on illegal drugs were
Several official and independent investigations of the drug war have shown that there were many instances where innocent individuals were dragged into the anti-drug operations.
In August 2017, 17-year-old Kian delos Santos was summarily executed in Caloocan City, even though he was not the original target of the operation.
The three police officers involved in the killing of delos Santos were convicted of murder.
In August 2024, the House of Representatives’ quad committee started an extensive probe into the past administration’s drug war and other issues.
The four panels eventually recommended the filing of crimes against humanity complaints against Duterte and his key allies for allegedly committing extrajudicial killings in the anti-drug campaign.
During the quad committee probe, it was revealed by former police colonel Royina Garma that Duterte called him in May 2016 about setting up a reward system for police officers who would kill drug suspects.
