US lawmakers meet with detained Filipino opposition leader

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Senator Edward Markey, whom former President Rodrigo Duterte once ousted from the Philippines, met Friday with a long-detained Philippine opposition leader who says he was wrongfully imprisoned during the government’s of Duterte and should be released.

Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and a group of US lawmakers met with former Sen. Leila de Lima for more than an hour in her high-security holding cell at the main police camp in metro Manila, according to her attorney. , Filibon Tacardon, and police.

Details of their court-authorized meeting were not immediately available.

Duterte had banned Markey and two other US lawmakers from traveling to the Philippines after they called for De Lima’s release and raised the alarm about human rights violations under his presidency. Duterte’s turbulent six-year term ended in June.

The former president’s brutal drug crackdown, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead, has prompted an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Duterte was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office on June 30 after a landslide election victory with his vice-presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter.

Markey and his delegation met with Marcos Jr. at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila on Thursday. After the meeting, Marcos Jr. said that he looked forward to “continuing our partnership with the US in the areas of renewable energy use, agricultural development, economic reform, and mitigation of drug problems.”

One of Duterte’s main critics, De Lima, 62, has been jailed for more than five years and has accused the former president and his then-deputies of fabricating the non-bailable drug charges that landed her in jail. in February 2017. Her arrest and detention effectively prevented her, at the time as a senator, from investigating the widespread killings during Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte had insisted on his guilt, saying witnesses testified that he received bribes from jailed drug lords. However, several witnesses have recently retracted her accusations against her, reviving calls for the Marcos Jr. administration to release her.

De Lima told The Associated Press in March in his first court-authorized jail interview since his arrest that “he cried every day, especially at night, in the first few weeks, not really out of self-pity but for my family and for disbelief.” .” He said that he later settled down and continued to fight for human rights and the rule of law behind bars.

He has issued more than 1,200 daily handwritten statements since his detention, primarily his critical thoughts on the Duterte government and his reaction to breaking news such as the 2020 US election victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which he hailed as a victory for democracy over “manufactured populism”. and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he called “an act of madness” that has put the world on edge.

He introduced more than 600 Senate bills and resolutions from behind bars, many aimed at strengthening human rights and government accountability and alleviating poverty. He ran for re-election in the May 9 election under the main opposition bloc, but was banned by a trial court from participating in online campaigning and debates.

Away from the electoral campaign, de Lima sent a cropped photo of herself to appear in her place. In the midst of her arrest, de Leila lost her candidacy for re-election.

Markey, chairman of the US Senate East Asia and Pacific Foreign Relations Subcommittee, renewed his deep concern about human rights conditions under then-outgoing President Duterte in a joint statement in June with two other US senators. USA

They said then that the incoming administration of Marcos Jr. provided an “opportunity to reject past repression, free Senator Leila de Lima, and adopt policies that support the rule of law and a vibrant free press in the Philippines.”

It was not immediately clear whether Markey renewed his call for De Lima’s release in Thursday’s meeting with Marcos Jr. and how the Philippine leader responded.

SHARE: