PAUNANG PAHAYAG NI SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA SA PAGHAHAIN NG KANDIDATURA BILANG SENADOR

(Inihayag ni Atty. Dino de Leon, Spokesperson ni Senator Leila, sa Harbor Garden Tent ng Sofitel, Lungsod ng Pasay. Nasa ibaba ang mas mahabang pahayag ni Senator Leila)

Magandang umaga po.

Ito po ang limang (5) mga dahilan kung bakit tumatakbo akong muli para Senador sa Halalan 2022.

Una, para ipagpatuloy ang aking laban.

Pangalawa, para isulong nang may higit na sigasig ang aking limang pangunahing mga adbokasiya: Social Justice; Human Rights; Criminal Justice Reform; Good Governance and Rule of Law; and, National Sovereignty.

Pangatlo, para panagutin si Duterte at ang kanyang mga kampon sa marami nilang mga kasalanan, lalo na ang malawakang pagpatay at pagyurak ng mga karapatang pantao, matinding korapsyon at kataksilan sa Inang Bayan.

Pang-apat, para protektahan ang demokrasya at mga demokratikong institusyon na sinira ni Duterte.

Pang-lima, para i-angat ang dangal ng Pilipino at ng Pilipinas.

Lima para kay De Lima!

Taumbayan na po ang humusga kung tatanggapin ang pag-alay ko muli sa aking sarili para sa serbisyo sa gitna ng aking mga sakripisyo o patuloy na pagsasakripisyo bunga ng mga kasinungalingan ni Duterte.

Maraming salamat po.

***

STATEMENT OF SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA
ON HER RE-ELECTION BID
(8 October 2021)

I would have liked it very much to personally file my own Certificate of Candidacy for re-election as Senator of the Republic but, of course, my present situation prevents me from doing so.

It is now four years and seven months since I have been arrested and detained on false charges to silence my voice against a lot of things that were going wrong under what was then the new administration of President Duterte. But like everything else, that administration is now at the twilight of its power. And as we come nearer to the end, the things that I have warned the whole nation about then are more and more being proven to be true.

Not only has the ICC ordered an investigation of the violent and murderous drug war which cost the lives of thousands. Even the Senate has now been awakened to the criminal nature of the Duterte administration as it continues its investigation on what is probably the single most plunderous act in the nation's history, more plunderous than all the Napoles scams combined. And as the President continues to defend his cronies at Pharmally and his Davao boys at the PS-DBM, to the point of risking a constitutional crisis, the nation has finally realized how deeply rooted in corruption the national government from Davao is.

Together with VP Leni and under her leadership, I and the other candidates of the Liberal Party and our allies, continue to represent the opposition in this country. We present the people an alternative to the criminal government that now governs us in the most perverted sense, an alternative that should have been a continuity administration of peace, stability, and progress in 2016.

Today, we find ourselves struggling to find our footing as the Duterte Administration has managed to reverse our economic gains when it completely botched up the pandemic response and sent hundreds of businesses to bankruptcy and threw millions of our countrymen to unemployment. To stand the country back on its feet is the first order of business of any new government in 2022. The second is to make sure that the Duterte government is made accountable for the complete mess it made out of our economy and our people's security, for the mass murders, treason and many other sins against the people.

Personally, even as I fight my own battle for my freedom, I cannot but also join the struggle of our people against injustice and oppression. My battle since 2016 when I was persecuted and then imprisoned goes hand in hand with the people's struggle for justice and progress. I cannot but realize that this is what my whole being is now all about, this struggle to free myself and the Filipino people from this curse that has all but destroyed our nation.

Ang laban ni Leila ay ang ipaglaban ang Pilipino. Ikinulong man ako at binusalan, patuloy pa rin ang aking pag-alay sa sariling buhay at kalayaan para sa ating bayan. Kung sa sakripisyo at pagsubok, palagay ko po ay akin nang napatunayan ang aking kakayahan na iangat ang kapakanan ng bayan sa pansarili kong interes.

Napakadaling sumuko kay Duterte para lamang makabalik sa aking normal na pamumuhay. Pero ni minsan ay hindi ito pumasok sa aking isipan. Ni minsan sa mahigit apat na taon at patuloy na pagkakabilanggo ay hindi ko ito ginawa. At bunga nito, buong-buo ang aking dignidad, at ang paninindigan na patuloy na ipagtanggol and mahihirap at walang kapangyarihan sa gitna ng panggigipit ng berdugo.

Ipinagdarasal ko na tatanggapin ng taumbayan ang pag-alay kong muli sa aking sarili para sa serbisyo, katulad ng pagtanggap ko sa aking sinapit alang-alang sa prinsipyo, sa bayan, at sa Diyos.

Kayo na po ang humusga kung sapat na ang aking sakripisyo sa mahigit na apat na taon upang maipanumbalik ang tiwalang sinira ng mga kasinungalingan ng Pangulo. Nasubukan ako, at hindi ako bumaligtad o sumuko. Nakatindig pa rin at lumalaban. Sa halalan sa susunod na taon, tumindig po tayo sa hanay ng mga hindi bumaligtad at sumuko.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!