President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday blasted a lady senator who he said was allegedly linked to the illegal drug trade and called her “adulterer” and “immoral”. “I have yet to [hear] a complaint [from] the United Nations president, and take it publicly, over and over again”, Mr. Duterte said.
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Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said he considers de Lima’s allegation unfounded, noting that what the President exposed about her had basis.
“I don’t think the Constitution has ever contemplated such abuse of power on such scale, as it assumes every President to conduct himself in a manner befitting the office he holds”, she said.
“Here’s a woman who funded a house of a lover and yet we don’t see any complaint about it”, the President added.
“A lot of bleeding hearts, including senators of the republic, are complaining about the death rate in the fight against drugs”, Duterte said in the speech at Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters, in Quezon City on the outskirts of Manila.
De Lima called on Duterte to spare her family, friends and former colleagues from attacks because they had done nothing wrong.
At the end of her speech, De lima said: “I have always been loyal to my oath as a public servant”. Stop portraying me as one.
“I can understand that the President is hard-pressed to deliver on his campaign promise to rid the nation of the scourge of illegal drugs but there ought to be a greater degree of civility in the face of disagreements between and amongst both branches of government”.
And in case you did not notice in the video, the President confirmed that he was talking about Senator Leila De Lima.
If this is his way of stopping the Senate’s investigation on the extrajudicial killings, De Lima said the President can try until he finally silences her or the Senate. Share your comment and views on the discussion box below.
De Lima aired her suspicion that the attacks against her by the President was his way of trying to put a stop to the inquiry she initiated as chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights.
Senators in De Lima’s Liberal Party threw their support behind her.
“This is the President and not just an ordinary person turning to gossip”.
She described Duterte’s attacks as “unpresidential” and a “breach of parliamentary courtesy”.
He said if Duterte meant to stop the senator from pursuing her inquiry into alleged extrajudicial killings, “we remind the President, using his own words in the campaign trail, that if one has nothing to hide, one has nothing to fear”. But the rights groups claim the number is more than 1,000.
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De Lima told reporters that she found his comments to be “foul” and that they amounted to character assassination. I stand with you, Sen.
