Leila de Lima delivers UMPIL’s 2024 Adrian E. Cristobal Lecture on February 20

The following is a press release from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas.

The Honorable Leila de Lima, politician, lawyer, human rights activist, and law professor will be the featured lecturer for the 2024 Adrian E. Cristobal Lecture Series.

The event will be on February 20, at 3 pm, at the Gimenez Gallery of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

The Cristobal family established the Adrian E. Cristobal Lecture Series in collaboration with the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) or the Writers’ Union of the Philippines. It aims to honor the intellectual legacy of the late renowned writer and former UMPIL chair emeritus. In each lecture, a renowned Filipino intellectual delivers a keynote speech on a topic related to a current socio-political condition in the country or a cultural development.

Past lecturers include Gemino Abad (2011), Virgilio Almario (2012), Resil Mojares (2013), Reynaldo Ileto (2014), Solita Monsod (2015), Marites Vitug (2016), Alfred Yuson (2017), Soledad Reyes (2018), Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo (2019), Antonio Carpio (2020), Ninotchka Rosca (2021), Sheila Coronel (2022), and Inday Espina Varona (2023).

De Lima served as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights under the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2008 to 2010. Her two-year term covered high-profile cases, such as the Davao Death Squad in which former president Duterte was involved, human rights cases against General Palparan, and the Maguindanao Massacre.

In 2010, she was offered the position of secretary of justice by President Benigno Aquino III, a post she held from 2010 to 2015. In 2016, De Lima won a Senate seat under the Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid of the Liberal Party. As a senator, she condemned the Philippine drug war and urged Congress to investigate the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects. Barely a year later, De Lima was arrested on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking, among others.

In 2022, immediately after Duterte’s term, all major witnesses to the charges against De Lima recanted their testimonies. On November 13, 2023, the Muntinlupa RTC granted De Lima’s petition for bail on her remaining drug charge, guaranteeing her release after six years in detention.

The lecture is jointly presented by the Cristóbal family, UMPIL, the College of Arts and Letters of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the Ignacio B. Gimenez Foundation Inc.

The event is open to the public. Everyone is invited, but we need you to register for a controlled number of attendees. Kindly confirm attendance by filling out this form: https://forms.gle/J1vD5CtHEfSQmeU57 – Rappler.com