The Philippines on Friday filed three drug-related charges against a senator and outspoken critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, saying she allegedly received money from drug dealers within the country’s prisons.
Since Duterte took office on June 30, greater than 7,700 people have been killed within the war on drugs, about 2,500 because of this of police operations, and the remainder are under investigation.
Human rights groups imagine that many other deaths attributed by police to guards were carried out by killers who were more likely to collude with police. The government and police vehemently deny that extrajudicial killings took place.
Senator Leila de Lima, her former driver, two bodyguards and a former national prison official are threatening arrest next week after a court issued arrest warrants, Justice Minister Vitaliano Aguirre told a news conference.
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These should not products of politics, the cases have been thoroughly investigated
Justice Minister Vitaliano Aguirre
“These are non-bailable offenses under the country’s drug laws,” Aguirre said, adding that a conviction carries a sentence of life in prison. “This will not be a product of politics, the cases have been thoroughly investigated.”
According to information filed within the first-instance court in Muntinlupa, within the southern capital of Manila, de Lima received 5 million pesos ($100,000) delivered to her home while she was justice minister from 2010 to 2016.
It also allowed convicted criminals to run drug-trafficking activities within the country’s prisons, which police say control about 70 percent of large-scale sales and distribution within the Philippines, she added.
This is the type of vindictive politics we will only expect from this regime
Senator Leila de Lima
“The criminal charges and prosecution are simply a politically motivated act,” de Lima said, denying all allegations and vowing to fight for human rights and democracy.
“This is the kind of vindictive politics we can only expect from this regime,” she said in a press release, accusing Duterte of attempting to “suppress any vocal opposition to the policy of extrajudicial killing.”
Three weeks ago, Duterte suspended all anti-drug operations by the police after a South Korean businessman was kidnapped and strangled on the national police headquarters in October.
Aguirre said the Justice Ministry would refer one other case against de Lima to the anti-graft body and investigate allegations that she received about 8 million pesos from a known drug trafficker in 2015 in connection together with her Senate election campaign.
De Lima also denied the allegations, saying she didn’t receive the cash.
The drug cases he faces relied on testimony from convicted felons and former prison officials during a congressional investigation into drug trafficking within the nation’s prisons.
