Detained Senator Leila De Lima has thrown her support to Jover Laurio, the blogger behind Pinoy Ako Blog (PAB), who is being criticized on social media by supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte for slamming seven senators who did not sign a resolution against extrajudicial killings.
De Lima, known to be a staunch critic of Duterte, urged the public to support Laurio as De Lima said “she does not deserve to be oppressed and persecuted for exercising her rights.”
“Yes, let’s defend PAB,” the senator said in a statement.
“In fact, it goes beyond that – we must defend Pinoy Ako Blog, both as the social media entity that brings information, raises questions, and invites critical thinking and constructive discussion that are vital to our democracy, as well as the private person behind that entity, Ms. Jover Laurio, who is a citizen under attack for exercising her constitutional right,” she added.
De Lima said that while the government should hold accountable fake news peddlers and those who use their office to propagate their propaganda, anyone who is in the “rightful, responsible and accountable exercise of their rights” must be defended.
“And we must defend her and PAB because it is our birthright as free Filipinos,” she added.
The senator also said that there is no “enemy” when it comes to free exercise and enjoyment of our human and constitutional rights.
“We must defend them, not because we agree with what they say, or because they are our allies, but because on this issue, we are all on the same side,” De Lima said.
“We may espouse opposing views, but we are all – all of us – beneficiaries and, therefore, defenders of those rights. Hindi pwedeng “what is your right is my right, but what is my right is my right alone”. It doesn’t – and won’t – work that way. It’s either we defend everyone’s democracy and liberties, or we leave our own vulnerable to attack,” she added.
The senator also said that we uphold the same rights that could have protected some of our heroes by defending the rights of Laurio.
“By defending Ms. Laurio’s rights in using the name “Pinoy Ako Blog” and writing what she writes, we uphold the same rights that could have protected Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, and Antonio Luna (to name a few, every time they wrote under the pen names “Dimasalang”, or “Laong-Laan”, “Plaridel”, “Diego Laura” and “Taga-Ilog”. By defending PAB, we honor and defend our heroes,” De Lima said.
“I used to think that not many of us have the opportunity to stand as defenders of our people. But, these days, the opportunities are everywhere. Just think, by defending PAB’s rights, we are defending the same rights that would have protected La Solidaridad and allowed it to achieve the ends it wanted to achieve,” De Lima added.