Dispatch from Crame No. 694:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on her Persecutors List

1/4/20

People are asking - Is there a list already of my persecutors? Has it been submitted to the US State Department?

Yes, I have their names stored in my mind all this time (not unlike the names Arya Stark used to recite like a litany, after her father was falsely branded and punished as a traitor by the power players in the Kingdom, who were acting out of fear of the truth he might reveal), even before this whole issue of the US visa ban cropped up. I've recently converted my mental list into a written formal list, and am now finalizing the same. An "Arya List" so to speak, if you will.

I guess everyone knows by now, more or less, who are at the top of my list. Some of the names I've already mentioned in previous writings or dispatches of mine, which delve on the subject of my persecution and related matters. Media had reported such partial list.

Soon enough, I will be ready to submit my final list - complete with a summary and citation of references justifying their inclusion - to the US State Department for its consideration.

I fully recognize that it remains the prerogative of the US State Department, as mandated by the US Congress, to come up with its own list based on credible information from its own sources. The final determination as to who will be part of the official list as subjects of the US entry ban lies entirely on said office. It may or may not publish said list.

My list, therefore, will be merely recommendatory and, as I fully understand, not at all binding on the US government. The US authorities will remain independent in their exercise of judgment and discretion, though I do hope that they give my list due consideration.

For that reason, I cannot reveal my final list without preempting the US State Department. I am not minded to do so in deference to them and their own policies and processes.

After all, this is not a process of vengeance, but of justice.

There is a massive difference there that my persecutors never comprehended: they could not, AND SHOULD HAVE NEVER, acted as the complainant, investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner in pursuing the baseless charges they themselves engineered and orchestrated against me. For when they did so, they revealed that their whole charade is not one of truth and justice, but of political persecution borne out of past encounters with those who now carry personal and political grudges against me, as well as borne out of fear of the other truths I wanted to reveal.

Thus, I will not make the same mistake that they did. Mine is not a ranting, wrathful, vengeful list. What I can assure everyone is that great effort at exercising circumspection and prudence was exerted to make sure that it is not a mere wish list, let alone an arbitrary one. It is a serious list, with particulars on why the named personalities deserve to be on the list, meaning, their respective roles in my persecution that led to my wrongful imprisonment.

The only colatilla is - there may be other names still unknown or undiscovered at this point, but were very much part of this whole Duterte project of persecution against me. We hope to name them also in due time.

No one, not even any of my staff, has seen my final list. I'm keeping it close to my chest at this point.

A final word. I am dead serious in achieving full vindication for the grievous wrongs done to me. I owe it to my late father, my ailing mother, my children, grandchildren and siblings to restore the good name of the de Lima family. With God's merciful grace...

(Access the handwritten version of Dispatch from Crame No. 694, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._694)