--- description: Leila de Lima is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Samantha Power wrote about the politician. title: Leila de Lima by Samantha Power: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3cdccacc094eb9f/6988c33bcf40a8ace8c4747a/time-100-2017-leila-de-lima.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2017 # Leila de Lima by Samantha Power  Photograph by Rolex Dela Pena—EPA Leila de Lima knew with whom she was dealing. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (dubbed “Duterte Harry”) has insulted Pope Francis, told U.S. President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and expressed regret he did not go “first” in a gang rape. Since last June, when Duterte took office, some 7,000 people have been killed in his merciless anti­drug campaign. Most opposition politicians have kept their heads down, knowing Duterte is both terrifyingly brutal and massively popular. But Senator de Lima has become Duterte’s most vocal critic—a role her friends call suicidal. Last August de Lima convened a hearing on Duterte’s drug-war killings, featuring devastating testimony from a former hit man. Duterte allies stripped de Lima of her Justice Committee chair. In February she was jailed. It is a disturbing testament to the current solidarity among strongmen and the global surge in impunity that de Lima’s cause has not been more embraced. And yet, even from prison, she continues to speak out against her President: “It’s not O.K. with me that we have a murderous psychopath occupying the highest post in the land.” _Power is a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/"},"headline":"Leila de Lima","datePublished":"2017-04-19T21:39:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:43.135Z","description":"Leila de Lima is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Samantha Power wrote about the politician.","url":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3cdccacc094eb9f/6988c33bcf40a8ace8c4747a/time-100-2017-leila-de-lima.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3cdccacc094eb9f/6988c33bcf40a8ace8c4747a/time-100-2017-leila-de-lima.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/","name":"Leila de Lima"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736274/leila-de-lima/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```