The Award goes to…
Senator Leila De Lima seems to be always in the
international organization’s mind. Last year she also won an award from the
2016 Global Thinker Award from the Foreign Policy. In 2017 the senator received
from Time Magazine as one of the Top Most Influential People for 2017.
And now even in detention, the number one critic of
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte seems to be on the records books again for being
the second Filipino to be awarded the Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for
Freedom for being a “flag-bearer” for human rights in the Philippines. *
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| Senator Leila De Lima (photo ManilaTimes) |
Over 100 liberals from 32 countries met in Johannesburg,
South Africa last week for the Liberal International’s (LI) 199th executive
committee meeting and voted to award the Prize for Freedom to Senator Leila de
Lima.
Marcus Loning, chairman of the LI’s human rights committee,
said de Lima set “a shining example for other human rights defenders.”
The late president Corazon Aquino was the first Filipino to
be bestowed of an award by the Liberal International in 1987 for her advocacy
on “democracy, peace and the empowerment of women.”
Vows to continue fighting Duterte
She is elated and humbled by the Prize for Freedom award
conferred by Liberal International (LI), and she vowed to continue fighting the
“murderous” Rodrigo Duterte administration.
“I am humbled and honored to be chosen as the recipient of
this prestigious Human Rights Prize, which was also bestowed to former
president and democracy icon Corazon Aquino’, the senator said in a statement.
“More than a recognition, I regard this award as an
inspiration that strengthens my resolve to continue opposing this murderous regime,
its outright disregard for human rights and trampling of human dignity to my
last breadth, especially because I am not alone in my fight,” she added. *
The senator has been detained in Camp Crame since February
20q6, on charges related to illegal drugs when she was the Secretary of the
Justice department of the Aquino administration.
Report from Interaksyon
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