Leila
de Lima has a hate-hate relationship with President Rodrigo Duterte, whom she
described as a “monster” that must be stopped.
 |
| Photo Credits: www.untvweb.com |
She painted a grim scenario
under a Duterte presidency in a roundtable interview with Inquirer reporters
and editors.
“(His actions) should be
scrutinized and we should be really concerned and really scared. He’s very
scary… It’s not at all a laughing matter,” De Lima said.
“(Duterte’s) formula (in
curbing criminality) would wreak havoc… on society as a whole,” the sharp-tongued
De Lima added, referring to Duterte's promise to stamp out drugs and
criminality within three to six months.
“He has become a monster…
There has to be concerted actions (against him),”.
De Lima’s adversarial
relationship with Duterte started when she led an investigation into the
existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group behind the death of
suspected criminals in Davao, when she was still chair of the Commission on
Human Rights (CHR) during the Arroyo administration.
In a previous televised
interview, Duterte had boasted that he was supporting the vigilante hit squad.
“I am the DDS,” he was also quoted as saying, though he quickly backtracked and claimed he
was just joking when the statement caused a stir.
Recalled De Lima: “I subpoenaed
him (to a public hearing) and asked him about his take on the DDS,
particularly on the case of a man who went missing after he was picked up by
the police.”
Duterte was “rather subdued in
the public hearing of the CHR and I really lambasted him,” the former CHR
official said. “He can never forget me because I took him to task. Maybe
he has not forgiven me,” she added.
Like a phantom, De Lima said
she would haunt Duterte’s administration.
“I’m the first to speak against
(Duterte). I used to be the lone voice in the wilderness,” she said.
“Every time he says something
about the persons he supposedly killed, I promptly react. I’m never silent when
it comes to Duterte’s braggadocio. I can’t stand his sense of impunity,” she
said.
De Lima said she would
“strongly urge people to… undertake a movement to reverse” Duterte’s
popularity.
The former justice secretary
said she could not understand why people would choose to believe Duterte’s
grand promise of ending criminality and the illegal drug trade within the first
six months of his presidency when he had not even tried to present a coherent
plan in combating crimes.
"We know what method he
wants to use and we know that it cannot be done,” De Lima said. “How in
heaven’s name can you eradicate criminality, including drug-related
criminality, in three to six months? It’s a complete illusion.”
The public, she added, should
hold Duterte accountable for the controversial remarks he made on the
Australian lay missionary who was gang-raped and killed inside a Davao prison
in 1989.
His statement on the incident,
De Lima said, was “a classic Duterte, classic in its brazenness and its utter
depravity.”
“I don’t understand the
accolades and the jeering for this kind of a hate speech,” she lamented. “No
matter how you look at it, rape and condoning rape is never acceptable in
whatever form.”
“It’s not a joke. How can it
ever be a joke? Anyone who enjoys talking about a rape victim is actually
indulging in hate speech—hate for women, hate for victims of rape. How can we
ever tolerate that?”
De Lima also admitted that the
rise in Duterte’s following was an “indictment of the justice system”
and mirrored the people’s frustration with the country’s snail-paced judicial
process, as well as the perceived worsening criminality.
“But is that the solution?” she asked.
“It sounds cliché, but that’s why we need to fix the system. This is one
of the main reasons I want to join the Senate—to help fix the justice system…
by filling up the gaps in the laws and the existing legal
mechanisms.”
Source: Inquirer
Source: Inquirer
"Ha!ha!"
ReplyDelete