# Senator Leila de Lima was arrested after challenging Duterte’s anti-drug campaign

Date: 2017

Philippine authorities arrested Senator [Leila de Lima](/people/leila-de-lima) on 24 February 2017 on drug-related charges. De Lima had become one of Duterte’s most prominent critics and had investigated alleged death-squad killings in Davao before leading Senate scrutiny of the national anti-drug campaign. Human Rights Watch described the prosecution as politically motivated and said Duterte and senior allies had publicly targeted her. She remained detained for years; a Philippine court acquitted her in the final narcotics case in June 2024. The event is treated as an erosion of [judicial independence](/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion) because prosecution and detention were used against a prominent critic amid direct presidential hostility. The contribution is marked complex rather than purely direct because prosecutors and courts executed the case, while the sourced record ties Duterte personally to the political campaign against her.

## People

- Rodrigo Duterte: https://factrail.ai/people/rodrigo-duterte

## Drivers

- Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippine-court-acquits-drug-war-critic-narcotics-case-2024-06-24/
- https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/24/philippines-arrest-duterte-critic-widens-drug-war

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ph-duterte-de-lima-arrest-2017