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| Photo courtesy of MSN and The Manila Times |
Manila, Philippines - Senator Leila de Lima lectured Foreign
Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. for his "idiotic" remarks
against the US Senate resolution which calls for sanctions against PH officials
responsible for orchestrating her arrest and prolonged detention.
Secretary Locsin called US resolution calling for sanctions
for De Lima’s illegal detention as “idiotic” and citing the separation of
powers and the independence of nations, the Philippines’ top diplomat
criticized on Sunday, December 15, Resolution No. 142 recently passed by the US
Senate foreign relations committee.
“Idiotic. Even a Philippine Senate resolution
is not one of the ways of ending a criminal trial; there's only acquittal or
conviction or dismissal by a demurrer to evidence,” Locsin
earlier Tweeted.
“But a US
Senate resolution? Aside from separation of powers there's the independence of
nations,” the DFA Secretary added.
Locsin claimed that a mere resolution either by the
Philippine Senate or United States Senate is “not one of the ways of ending a criminal trial.”
However, De Lima emphasized to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro
Locsin Jr. “It is not hard to set an
innocent person free. “
The opposition senator and fierce critic of President
Duterte was detained in February 2017 at the Philippine National Police (PNP)
Custodial Center on drug charges. She denied the complaint and described it as
a mere political harrassment.
In retaliation to
Locsin’s idiotic remark, De Lima said, "Mr. Locsin, it is not hard to set an
innocent person free. All you have to possess is the legal aptitude to be able
to weigh the value of the statements of 13 criminal convicts all serving life
sentences and other compromised characters, as against US Senators of the most
powerful nation in the world and other global personalities and institutions
who consistently act in solidarity with me and my causes,"
She added, Locsin seemingly forgot his lesson on criminal
procedure and fails to mention other ways of ending a criminal trial, including
“withdrawal of the Information,
desistance from pursuing the case or failure to prosecute, all by the
prosecution.”
The Bicol native Senator reminded
Locsin that as the top diplomat of our country, he is free to regain his
brilliant legal mind or choose to continuously identify himself as among the
cohorts or enablers of an abusive government.
“You cannot be that
naïve or close-minded in failing or refusing to see what the rest of the world
sees: that the charges against me are pure fiction, a product of orchestrated
lies assembled by certain officials and operators on explicit orders of Duterte
as the highlight of his personal vendetta against me,” De Lima said.
Source: Politiko
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