De Lima on 100th day in detention: 'Worse than death'

During her 100th day in detention inside Camp Crame in Quezon City, Senator Leila de Lima on Sunday said her current situation is "worse than death."

"I'm glad that none of my regular visitors has, so far, bothered to ask me this question — what is it like or how does it feel to be under detention? I would grope for the right words if so asked. I might even take offense," she said in a statement.

"But if forced to come up with an answer to such a silly, if not unkind question, this is my answer — It's worse than death," she said.

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court in February ordered De Lima to be detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center inside Camp Crame in Quezon City, for her supposed involvement in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as Justice secretary.

"Today is my 100th day in detention, 100 days of gross injustice. An agony of an indefinite duration," De Lima said.

"Yes, to be deprived of your physical liberty, even if temporary, and its concomitant indignities, and especially if you know within the deepest depth of your being that you’re innocent, evokes an indescribable yet overwhelming feeling of despair as well as revulsion," she added.

De Lima had earlier said that she has long prepared herself to be the first "political prisoner" under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"[M]y spirit remains unbroken. I must keep the faith and finish the race," she said. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News