Dispatch from Crame No. 615:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on DFA Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin's remarks that she cannot be acquitted on request of U.S. Congress

10/4/19

DFA Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin asserts, quite correctly, that I cannot be acquitted on mere request of the U.S. Congress. We know that, of course. But these US Senators who proposed a visa ban against my oppressors are not in any way imposing their will on our local courts.

Their courageous championing of my causes before the US Senate transcends the nuances and pitfalls of our vulnerable justice system. Duterte defenders (read: enablers) fail or refuse to see or appreciate the whole context of the persistent action of these US lawmakers, and other parliamentarians from other countries, notably, the members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Asian Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), in calling out the Duterte regime's persecution of a perceived archenemy and abuse of our justice system to serve such end.

Mr. Secretary, why can't you just be forthright and say this instead: that your President will never allow my acquittal. Remember his famous lines to me--"You're finished!" and "You will rot in jail!"?

Let that sink in. Tell me, would my acquittal be ever acceptable to a despotic and self-absorbed leader that he is? It would drive him more into madness...###

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 615, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_from_crame_no._615)