Former senator Leila de Lima said every moment of her more than six years of detention became a test but she never lost faith that she would be freed.
She tasted her first day of provisional freedom on Nov. 13 when Presiding Judge Gener Gito of the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 granted her bail in the last remaining drug case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Duterte administration in February 2017.
Former senator Leila de Lima (left) at her press conference together with Senator Risa Hontiveros on Nov. 13 after she was released from detention (Aaron Homer Dioquino)
Gito also granted bail amounting to P300,000 each to De Lima’s co-accused: former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Franklin Jesus Bucayu, Ronnie Dayan, Joenel Sanchez and Jose Adrian Dera.
They are accused of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. The DOJ charged that between March 2013 to May 2015, the accused used inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa to sell and trade dangerous drugs using mobile phones and other electronic devices, and allegedly got the proceeds amounting to P70 million.
De Lima became emotional inside the courtroom when Gito announced that he had already resolved the motions for reconsideration filed to overturn the previous denial of bail and he had granted bail to all the accused.
She was hugged by her legal team led by legal counsel Boni Tacardon, and supporters including former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Christian Monsod.
After De Lima posted bail, the court ordered her release. She went back to the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame to present the order.
After which, she held a press conference together with Senator Risa Hontiveros at Novotel Manila Araneta City.
De Lima was detained on Feb. 24, 2017 after a warrant of arrest for case 17-165 on illegal drug trading was issued by Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204.
It took six years and eight months to achieve her provisional liberty.
“Though it took too long, I never lost faith that my inevitable freedom will come. Alam ninyong lahat kung gaano tayo katagal naghintay at nagtiis, na may pananalig na ang Katotohanan at totoong Hustisya ang magtatagumpay,” De Lima said at the press conference.
She added, “But the counting of the years, the months, days, hours, minutes, seconds… The milestones in my own life, in my family’s life, and in our nation’s history that I have missed by being unjustly detained cannot be counted… None of those can fully express how much and how long I have longed to be able to say the words: ‘Finally, the Truth has set me free.’”
According to her, “Every moment was a test, and every single second was a fight to rise above the sorrow, the fears, the uncertainties of the future, and even – to be honest – the temptation to be overcome by hate and vindictive thoughts.”
“Lahat po iyon nilabanan ko. Hindi ko isusuko ang aking pagkatao at pagiging tao. They may have taken years of my life, but they will never take my humanity. Ang mundo ay puno ng mga taong buktot ang kaluluwa at makasarili sa harap ng pagdurusa ng taumbayan. I will never be one of them,” she vowed.
De Lima added, “Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, and every year of the last 2,454 days was a struggle, but the one thing I can honestly say is that I never allowed myself to even entertain any regret.”
Although she “wished things turned out differently, but these are things that were beyond my control. But for the things that were – what I did, how I reacted and my reasons for fighting for those who were victimized and cannot speak for themselves – I have no regret.”
“As I appear before you today – 6 years, 8 months, 21 days after I peaceably surrendered myself to the authorities – it is one of my greatest achievements in my career and in my life to say that, not only did I survive all these years of persecution and unjust detention, I came out stronger than ever, with an even stronger commitment to Truth, Justice, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. These are not just words to me. These have been my lifeline. These have been my life before, during and after my unjust detention started,” she said.
Of the three drug cases filed by the DOJ against De Lima, two were dismissed by Muntinlupa courts in 2021 and this year.