Duterte’s vocal critic arrested, to face drug trafficking charges

Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte is accused of orchestrating a drug trafficking ring when she was justice secretary during the 2010-2015 administration of Benigno Aquino.

The embattled senator has been arrested by law enforcement agents after charges were filed in court alleging she received money from drug dealers inside the country’s prisons.

She was arrested alongside her former driver and bodyguard and a former national prison official.

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“The truth will come out and I will achieve justice. I am innocent,” she told reporters shortly before law enforcers escorted her away from her office on Friday.

De Lima has denied the charges, calling herself a victim of political persecution and saying she has long prepared herself to be the first “political prisoner” under the Duterte administration.

“While the issuance of the warrant of arrest is questionable, I do not have any plans to evade it,” she said, calling the order premature as the court has yet to hear the response from her lawyer

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