New York / The Hague, 27 February 2017

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), a network of over 1400 democratically elected legislators from 142 countries worldwide, calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Senator Leila de Lima, who was arrested last week on charges filed against her, claiming she had received money from drug dealers inside the country’s prisons. She is now in custody.

While PGA Members fully respect and support the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, they also strongly reject any form of politicization of prosecutorial and judicial authorities. In this regard, PGA takes note of the fact that Senator De Lima was recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

As Parliamentarians, PGA Members recognize the centrality of the Executive power in running a stable democracy. However, the essential role played by the Executive cannot be used to infringe upon or jeopardize in any way the constitutional mandate of Parliament to legislate and ensure oversight of the Executive’s decisions. Therefore, the fundamental human rights of all parliamentarians, including those from opposition, must be absolutely safeguarded, without exceptions or reservations.

As a law abiding State, the Philippines should guarantee that all three powers remain independent pursuant to the Constitution and that the judiciary is not used to target opposition members. The opposition should be allowed to hold the government accountable and serve as a counter and viable alternative to the government, in order for democracy to truly exist. PGA therefore calls on all relevant authorities to remove the politically motivated charges that led to the Senator De Lima’s arrest and to ensure that unsubstantiated charges not be brought against any opposition MPs.