Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Saturday warned supporters of detained Senator Leila de Lima that they could be cited in contempt of court if they would continue calling her illegal drug charges “fake” and “trumped up.”

In an interview with reporters on Saturday, Aguirre dismissed the demonstrations staged by De Lima’s supporters at various areas in Manila where they called for the senator’s release after one year in detention.

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“Ang k’wan lamang dito, ginagawa nilang propaganda itong one year imprisonment ni Senator De Lima. Sinasabi nila na fake, trumped up (ang) charges,” Aguirre said.

(What we have here is that they only using the one year imprisonment of Senator De Lima as propaganda. They are saying that all these charges are fake, trumped up.)

“Alalahanin natin yung ginagawa nila is contemptuous iyan, sapagkat iyan ay nakahain na para magtrial at pinangugunahan nila parang sinasabi nila na trumped charges,” the justice chief stressed.

(Let us remember that what they are doing is contemptuous because this has already been under trial and they are trying to go ahead, like saying these are trumped up charges.)

Aguirre said that De Lima’s supporters may only be following the line of the European Union and rights groups in the United States that De Lima has many supporters and that the charges hurled against her were only “trumped up.”

“Pero walang katotohanan yan sapagkat alam natin na kaya si De Lima ay nakakulong ay hindi sapagkat ito ay mga trumped or fake, kung ‘di siya ay napatunayan at least preliminarily na siya ay coddler ng drug lords sa loob ng Bilibid,” he said.

(But these are not true because we all know De Lima was detained not based on trumped or fake, but she was found, at least preliminarily, of coddling drug lords inside the Bilibid.)

De Lima’s supporters on Saturday staged a motorcade from Quirino Grandstand to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Headquarters in Camp Crame, where the senator was detained, to mark her first year in detention.

The senator was ordered arrested by the Muntinlupa regional trial court after finding probable cause in the illegal drug charges filed by the Department of Justice for her alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison drug trade. /jpv

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