On Christmas day, De Lima shares her wishes

For Christmas 2019, Senator Leila M. de Lima wishes that it would be her last Yuletide celebration in detention so she could perform her duties to participate in the legislative process and spend more time with her family.

This is the third time that De Lima, the first prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, would be spending Christmas in detention since she surrendered herself to arresting authorities last Feb. 24, 2017.

"I hope that this is my last Christmas in detention so that my normal life as a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and as a duly-elected Senator be now restored," she said.

"I'm raring to work fully and assiduously as a fiscalizing minority senator and focus on my chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development," she added.

Same with her previous celebrations in detention, De Lima is celebrating Christmas Day along with family, some close friends and staff members by hearing a Mass and sharing a simple lunch inside the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police, in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Aside from her personal wishes, the lady Senator from Bicol also shared her hopes for the country and the entire Filipino populace.

"I wish that more and more patriotic men and women and pro-democracy forces join the ranks of those persistently working for a return of a just, humane and decent Philippine society," she said.

"Despite the struggles Filipinos continue to endure under an anti-human rights government, I hope that we can all remain optimistic that better days are coming if we choose to fight for what is right," she added.

Known as a prisoner of conscience, De Lima has consistently maintained that no amount of lies by political manipulators and even paid trolls could erase her innocence from all trumped-up illegal drug charges filed against her by the government, believing that she will be vindicated in time.