Former vice president Leni Robredo cannot help but compare the arrest and detention faced by former senator Leila de Lima and former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Former vice president Leni Robredo and Mamamayang Liberal Partylist first nominee Leila de Lima speak to the media in Naga City on Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Photo from ML Partylist)
During a press conference in Naga City for a visit by Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist, the former vice president took note of the differences between the detention facilities of De Lima and Duterte.
“I can’t help but compare ‘yung sitwasyon ngayon ni dating Pangulong Duterte saka sitwasyon ni Senator Leila before (former President Duterte’s situation now and Senator Leila’s situation before),” Robredo said.
“Hindi nya kinuwestiyon ‘yung due process (She didn’t question the due process). She had to go through everything. So, kahit mali ‘yung mga paratang sa kanya, lahat iyon hinarap (even though the charges against her were wrong, she faced everything),” she added.
De Lima was detained for nearly seven years at the Camp Crame for trumped-up drug charges that were later dismissed, while Duterte was arrested last Tuesday, March 11, under an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant on crimes against humanity of murder.
The former president is now being held in a detention facility in Scheveningen, The Hague in Netherlands, where the ICC was headquartered, while awaiting his trial.
Citing reports, Robredo said the former was president seemingly being well taken care of and that he has access to a computer, something that De Lima was deprived of when she was under police custody.
“He can really roam around. Merong mga conjugal and family visits na pwedeng i-entertain, maluwag (There are conjugal and family visits that he can entertain, he is allowed),” she stressed.
She remembered the former senator and now ML Partylist first nominee’s situation, wherein she only had an electric fan and never had an access to a computer despite being a senator at the time of her arrest.
Robredo recalled that De Lima had to handwrite official documents when she was detained and still working as a senator.
“Senator siya pero wala siyang access sa computer, telepono, internet (She was a senator then but she had no access to computer, telephone, and internet),” she said, adding that De Lima was only given the privilege of watching movies “after a long time.”
The ex-vice president remembered that the former senator can only watch a movie every Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. but authorities had to pre-approve the movie title she wanted to watch first.
De Lima’s life was even put to risk because she was taken hostage in the facility during an attempted breakout by an inmate.
'Political harassment'
“Ang gusto lang nitong sabihin (All I want to say is), she had to endure all of that kasi sinunod nya ‘yung due process, hinarap nya ‘yun (she followed due process, she faced the) charges against her no matter how difficult and unfair those charges were, kahit obvious na political harassment hinarap nya (even if it was obviously political harassment),” Robredo said.
“Pinagdaanan nya ito. Naging patient sya kasi alam niya meron prosesong sinusunod (She went through it all. She was patient because she knows there’s a process to be followed),” she added.
The former vice president’s remarks came amid complaints from the Duterte camp that there was no due process in the arrest of the former president.
Duterte was arrested on Tuesday, March 11, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 upon his arrival from Hong Kong and subsequently flown that evening to The Hague via a chartered flight.
No law violation
Meanwhile, De Lima said there was no violation of the law in the former president’s arrest.
A lawyer and a former human rights commissioner and justice secretary, the former senator was a staunch critic of Duterte’s war on drugs.
She cited Republic Act 9851, also known as the "Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity," which recognized the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes against international and humanitarian law.
The law stipulates that the Philippine government has the option to surrender a person of interest to the ICC without any judicial approval.
“Our Philippine authorities government can defer to an international tribunal and can surrender the subject to the investigation dito sa atin (here) to the international court,” she said.
“Wala po akong nakikitang nilabag na batas (I don’t see a violation of laws),” she added.
De Lima explained that RA 9851 was passed even before the Philippines became a signature to the ICC.
She also cited that “even if the Philippines has withdrawn already from the Rome Statute of ICC, the ICC maintains jurisdiction over the alleged crimes that were committed during the time we were still member.”