[Free to Disagree] De Lima stood agency. However some males are trash.

On June 24, 2024 the final  of the trumped-up drug circumstances in opposition to former senator Leila de Lima was dismissed.

The identical court docket that granted her bail after virtually 7 years of detention, Muntinlupa Metropolis Regional Trial Court docket Department 206, lastly allowed her to stroll fully free.

I didn’t know a lot about Leila de Lima till late 2016. At the moment, then-president Rodrigo Duterte had began his killing spree and it was going robust. Usually sane and respectable individuals appeared to be glad that every one these alleged drug addicts had been being killed. Duterte was on the peak of energy and recognition and it appeared the nation had succumbed to its darker facet. The concept that peace and order and nationwide improvement could possibly be achieved by a person who had taken to killing with out due course of had by some means taken maintain. That concept is, to place it bluntly, guano loopy. However we had been there.

After which De Lima drew the road. On August 2, 2016, she delivered a privileged speech on the ground of the Senate calling a cease to the extrajudicial killings dedicated in the midst of the drug struggle, and calling for a Senate investigation.

Slut-shaming

After that, the misogynist bullying started. On August 11, 2016, Duterte stated that he had a authorities official in sight, whom he would destroy in public. He stated he was spying on this official with the assistance of a overseas energy. Sure, certainly, yippee. The President confessed to spying on a authorities official with the assistance of a overseas energy and all these machos who voted for him due to his poisonous masculine strategy to uber-nationalism, let it experience. Given a selection between nationwide freedom and freedom to slutshame, guess which one they selected?

On August 17, 2016, Duterte named Leila de Lima and referred to as her an “immoral, soiled lady.” He accused her additional of being “hooked on medication due to the shut affiliation” along with her driver with whom she was having an affair. This President, who had bragged repeatedly of his personal sexual escapades exterior of marriage, loved rape jokes that includes himself as an aspiring rapist, and talks about sexually abusing a maid, was slut-shaming a girl for having an affair. And all of the machos had been orgasmic of their help of the revival of the double commonplace for women and men. Sexual servitude of ladies, the important thing to good governance!

Shortly thereafter, then-speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed Home Decision No. 105, which began a Home panel investigation into allegations that de Lima had a hand within the proliferation of drug syndicates on the New Bilibid Jail. These hearings proved to all that the Home of Representatives can simply be became a beer backyard. It became a collection of “hearings” about de Lima’s private life. The lads within the committee had even scheduled to observe a intercourse video of de Lima.

Allow us to title these males and endorse their actions to the judgment of historical past. Aside from former Speaker Alvarez, they’re:
Rudy Fariñas of Ilocos Norte

Raneo Abu of Batangas

Michael John Duavit of Rizal

Romeo Acop of Antipolo

Karlo Nograles of Davao Metropolis

Abraham Tolentino of Cavite

Paulino Salvador Leachon of Oriental Mindoro’s 1st District

Eric Martinez of Valenzuela

Danilo Suarez of Quezon province

Jerry Treñas of Iloilo Metropolis

EveryWoman

And that is when a few of us confirmed we had been courageous. 

Irritated by the kabastusan of those honorable males, I requested just a few feminist mates to begin a Twitter (now X) marketing campaign with the next message: “I wish to testify within the HOR. It was me within the intercourse video. #EveryWoman.” A dozen or so of us tweeted this message at 12 midday on September 30. It took off. I wish to imagine that the recognition of the tweet took the stiffness out of the nether lands of  the tawdry Home committee.

Then, the drug costs got here from the Division of Justice underneath Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in February 2017, which resulted in her arrest and detention per week later. Promoters of this inequity included former authorized counsel and spokesperson Sal Panelo and all-around Duterte cheer chief Harry Roque.

The prosecution of the fees in opposition to De Lima was when the crime of violence in opposition to girls acquired compounded by different prison actions just like the coercion of witnesses. Duterte got here to energy on a legislation and order platform, however that clearly meant a harsh type of legislation and order for individuals they thought-about much less vital like drug addicts, girls and political enemies and the order of the brothel for the President and his allies.

EveryWoman, which began as a hashtag, finally turned a coalition of ladies’s teams preventing in opposition to Duterte’s hatred of ladies. It additionally stood by Leila de Lima by way of the lengthy years of her wrestle. We visited her in jail, attended hearings and mobilized varied types of help. It took bravery as a result of throughout the years when a murderous, testosterone-fueled rage took over the nation, there have been instances when, even amongst girls’s teams, we stood alone in help of her.

We have now documentation of these males and what they stated within the slut shaming of the previous senator. However we even have documentation of Duterte’s abusive and violent language usually.  What we can’t doc totally is the cowardice that took over the federal government establishments meant to guard individuals from getting killed with out due course of or these meant to guard girls from violence. Many individuals copped out by saying “let the courts determine.” This, when the infirmities of the case, the slut-shaming and character assassination, had been so apparent. I’ll take specific be aware of our Supreme Court docket who denied  De Lima’s habeas corpus petition to cease Duterte’s violence in opposition to her in October 2019.

However we do have a listing of males and what they stated. I hope sometime, in an ideal world, all of them, right down to the final actor, may be held accountable. In the meantime, gents, you’re items of ordure.

A few of us are courageous

Lest anybody accuse me of being a person hater, let me let you know that a few of us who had been courageous, had been males. Males like Chel Diokno who served as de Lima’s counsel for her habeas corpus petition. Males like Justice Marvic Leonen who dissented on the habeas corpus resolution calling it a double commonplace within the guise of presidential immunity. There have been additionally males like Teddy Rigoroso, who served as authorized counsel for De Lima in all her court docket circumstances. Throughout the lengthy years of her prosecution, many males had been exterior the courts urging for her launch. Not all males are trash. It was a tragedy although that throughout the Duterte years, most of the males near him, would have had me fearful for my security even in a well-lighted cafe at midday.

In considered one of her speeches after her launch on bail, De Lima famous that justice is just not solely about those that are harmless being let loose, it is usually about those that falsely accuse being held accountable.

I hope she recordsdata a case in opposition to Rodrigo Duterte earlier than the Worldwide Prison Court docket will get him. I hope the likes of Vitaliano Aguirre may be charged too. Maybe her seek for justice and the search of all of the victims of Duterte’s evil can function one mission for nationwide redemption.

As a result of a few of us are courageous, however some males belong in jail. – Rappler.com

Sylvia Estrada Claudio is a health care provider of medication who additionally has a PhD in psychology. She is Professor Emerita of the College of the Philippines, Diliman. She at present serves as head convenor of EveryWoman.