Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Vice President Leni Robredo visits Senator Antonio Trillanes at the Senate on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. George Calvelo, ABS CBN News/File

Article (news)

Agatha Gregorio

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175445702751020180906-trillanes-robredo-gc-5733.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Leni Robredo visits Senator Antonio Trillanes at the Senate on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. George Calvelo, ABS CBN News/File </span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila De Lima said it is &quot;difficult to believe&quot; that former Vice President Leni Robredo would have blocked former President Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court as former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV claims.</p><p>Robredo ran for president in 2022 but lost to Ferdinand Marcos Jr., then an ally of the Dutertes.</p><p>Trillanes, in a television interview, alleged that Robredo would not have turned Duterte over to the ICC had she been elected president.</p><p>He also claimed that Sen. Paolo Benigno &quot;Bam&quot; Aquino IV had asked for a delay in the ICC&#x27;s release of an arrest warrant for Duterte over his volent and bloody drug war because of how it might affect the 2025 election campaign.</p><p>&quot;No one who stood with us during the darkest days of impunity and persecution can honestly accuse her of being soft on accountability, least of all on Duterte,&quot; De Lima said of Robredo, who became standard-bearer for the political opposition in the 2022 polls.</p><p>In a statement, De Lima also said people should &quot;not hand ammunition to those who wish to see the democratic opposition fragmented and discredited.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/25/icc-s-principal-counsel-for-victims-opposes-duterte-s-interim-release-plea-2227"><strong>ICC’s principal counsel for victims opposes Duterte’s interim release plea</strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>WHERE ROBREDO STOOD ON ICC, ACCOUNTABILITY</strong></div><p>Robredo has yet to respond to Trillanes&#x27; claims but had opposed the Philippines&#x27; withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, saying it <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/03/15/18/robredo-philippines-to-lose-rights-safety-net-with-icc-exit">would deprive future generations of another &quot;safety net&quot; in case of abuses</a>.</p><p>She had been critical of the drug war and when briefly tapped to be co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs in 2019 said problems with the implementation of the anti-narcotics campaign &quot;should first be solved internally&quot;.</p><p>She said, however, that she would be open to having observers from the ICC and the United Nations look into the drug war &quot;if I believe that the government is not doing anything to punish whoever needs to be punished or to put to justice whatever needs to be put to justice.&quot;</p><p>She said then of issues related to the drug war that &quot;I would rather that we take care of whatever we have to take care of.&quot;</p><p>Families of drug war victims went to the ICC, meant to be a court of last resort, because they felt that they would not get justice through domestic processes  </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>FRAGILE OPPOSITION</strong></div><p>As things stand, Congress is dominated by allies of the Marcos Jr. and Duterte factions of the former administration UniTeam coalition.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/5/11/wrap-leftist-candidates-take-on-political-dynasties-in-halalan-2025-2203"><strong>WRAP: Leftist candidates take on political dynasties in Halalan 2025</strong><br/></a></div><p>A plan to form an &quot;independent bloc&quot; at the Senate did not push through with Sens. Aquino and Francis &quot;Kiko&quot; Pangilinan ending up in the Senate&#x27;s majority bloc. Sen. Risa Hontiveros <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/28/hontiveros-to-join-emerging-sotto-led-senate-minority-1006">is in the minority</a>.</p><p>Opposition party-lists ML, Akbayan, ACT Teachers and Kabataan are in the House minority.</p><p>&quot;We do not know what has prompted these claims. But we do know their effect: division, distraction, and disinformation. Sa halip na tumutok sa mga dapat singilin sa kapalpakan at kasinungalingan, tayo pa mismo ang nagkakahiwa-hiwalay,&quot; De Lima said.</p><p>(Instead of focusing on those who should be held to account for incompetence and for lies, we are just fighting each other)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/5/21/hontiveros-there-will-be-a-progressive-alternative-in-2028-polls-1539"><strong>Hontiveros: There will be a progressive alternative in 2028 polls</strong></a></div><p>De Lima stressed the opposition is &quot;not here to fight each other,&quot; and reminded parties not to lose sight of that.</p>

<p>"No one who stood with us during the darkest days of impunity and persecution can honestly accuse her of being soft on accountability, least of all on Duterte," De Lima said of Robredo, who became standard-bearer for the political opposition in the 2022 polls.</p>

"No one who stood with us during the darkest days of impunity and persecution can honestly accuse her of being soft on accountability, least of all on Duterte," De Lima said of Robredo, who became standard-bearer for the political opposition in the 2022 polls.

De Lima: 'Difficult to believe' Trillanes tale Leni would have blocked Duterte ICC arrest

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De Lima: 'Difficult to believe' Trillanes tale Leni would have blocked Duterte ICC arrest

Agatha Gregorio,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 06, 2025 01:33 PM PHT

Read More:

Leila De Lima

Sonny Trillanes

Leni Robredo

Rodrigo Duterte

International Criminal Court

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