Senator Leila de Lima and President Rodrigo Duterte. File/Composite

MANILA - Senator Leila de Lima claimed Sunday her detractors "must now be shaking on their knees" as her incarceration continues to gather international attention.

"Those evil elements who orchestrated this grand travesty of justice foisted upon me must now be shaking on their knees. Amidst their continued vilification of my person and honor, they don't really know how to handle me. They know that they cannot persist in their lies and machinations," De Lima said in a handwritten note from her detention cell.

"With the whole world watching, and more and more people gaining discernment about this regime's capacity for evil, my tormentors must realize that locking me up in jail and stripping me of my rights is a huge mistake. They must tremble where they stand," she added.

De Lima has repeatedly accused President Rodrigo Duterte of masterminding the drug-related charges against her, allegedly in retaliation for her criticism of his anti-narcotics crackdown.

Several international bodies, including the European Union (EU), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have condemned De Lima's arrest and called for immediate release.

Malacañang has denied that the charges against De Lima were politically motivated while Duterte hit back at EU for meddling with Philippine issues.

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SILENT MAJORITY

De Lima, in a separate note, said there is now a "silent majority" that shares her disdain of the Duterte administration, as exemplified by a group of elderly women who recently paid her a visit at Camp Crame.

The group, she said, lampooned Duterte's "cursing, his dark psychology and obsession with drugs, while neglecting other urgent concerns such as the economy, jobs and traffic."

They were aghast about Duterte's response of China's incursion on Benham Rise and the "arrogance and propensity to lie" of some of his allies, said De Lima.

"I told myself as I feel it in my gut that there must be a multitude of like-minded citizens out there, sharing exactly the same sentiments. There must be a silent majority now. And so there is hope," ended her note.