Benedict Maravilla

“Patuloy kong ipaglalaban ang mga karapatan ng bawat isa sa Pilipino, lalo na ang karapatang pantao, at hustisya para sa lahat.”

Photo Courtesy of Liberal International/LP/Foreign Policy in Focus.

This is the statement of human rights advocate and former Senator Leila de Lima as she announced her bid for House seat as a nominee of the Liberal Party (LP) sectoral wing, and Mamamayang Liberal (ML), together with Teddy Baguilat and Erin Tañada, for the 2025 elections.

During LP’s executive meeting on September 20 in San Juan City, de Lima spoke after a resolution honoring her commitment to justice and human rights was raised, emphasizing her ‘resilience and integrity despite unjust persecution and defamation’.

“I accepted the nomination as the lead nominee of the partylist Mamamayang Liberal, which is the sectoral wing of our party. Together with Ted Baguilat and Erin Tañada, we accepted the challenge of leading Mamamayang Liberal, to be one to further reinvigorate…our party and our sectoral groups,” de Lima said.

De Lima reiterated that she will continue to stand against injustice and human rights violations, citing her ‘hard-fought’ journey from being the Commision on Human Rights Chair to being imprisoned for proven false accusations against her by the Duterte administration.

“As I stand here, I do not just do so as a former senator who was wrongfully imprisoned, but as a Filipino who will never stop fighting for justice. I am here because I believe in the resilience of the Filipino people,” she expressed.

De Lima said that through the partylist, they will be more connected to the marginalized people who are ‘left and that should not be left’ by the government.

She also affirmed to strengthen the ideals and principles of LP, such as democracy, justice, good governance, and national sovereignty.

“Sa pamamagitan ng partylist, mayroon tayong venue [at] mayroon tayong platform na lalo tayong mapapalapit sa mga nasa laylayan, para lalo natin itaguyod ‘yong time-honored and deeply entrenched principles, ideals, visions of the Liberal Party,” she said.

The former senator also admitted that the deliberation to run in the 2025 elections was not an easy one, saying that ‘deep reflections and many consultations’ helped her to settle into her decision.

“Our fight is not in the past, our fight is here in the now. Today is where the battle is fought and where the future is determined,” de Lima said.

De Lima was freed of the drug trafficking cases filed against her in 2024, almost 8 years after she was arrested in 2017 under the Duterte administration.