Five years since her detention, members of The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (TOWNS) Foundation demanded on Wednesday, March 2, for the release of Senator Leila de Lima.
TOWNS, a non-profit organization of women spearheading projects and initiatives in the Filipino nation's service, maintained that charges against the senator are "dubious and unfounded," and her continued incarceration is "unjust, unconstitutional, and a blight on our justice system."
"It has been five years since she was arrested and detained, after being unjustly maligned, slut-shamed, her womanhood denigrated, her integrity questioned for her pursuit of the truth behind the Davao Death Squad and the extrajudicial killings of President Rodrigo Duterte's War on Drugs," TOWNS Foundation's statement read.
De Lima, who had investigated extrajudicial killings in Davao City when President Rodrigo Duterte was its mayor, has been under detention since Feb. 24, 2017.
She is the most high-profile detainee under Duterte's government.
"She was falsely charged with three counts of illegal drug trafficking and has been detained in virtual isolation in Camp Crame, deprived of liberty, access to radio, TV, Internet, and allowed only limited visits, even by family members. She has also been repeatedly denied bail," they lamented.
"Senator de Lima has faced charges in three counts where her principal accusers are convicted drug lords who turned 'state witnesses', some of whom have since been murdered or died in prison. Seven of the judges hearing her cases have either resigned or sought early retirement. Last year, she was exonerated, found not guilty in one of her cases," they added.