Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13) – President Rodrigo Duterte fired back at detained Senator Leila De Lima in his national address on the government’s pandemic response.
Duterte revived allegations against De Lima, one of his administration’s staunchest critics, on her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison that supposedly funded her senatorial campaign in 2016.
“Tama ‘yan sa’yo. Magtiis ka, p******** mo. Binastos mo ang Pilipinas ng droga diyan mismo sa national penitentiary,” Duterte mocked De Lima in his address on Monday.
[Translation: That’s right for you. You should suffer. You insulted the Philippines with your involvement in the drug trade there in the national penitentiary.]
The President’s statement was an apparent rebuttal to De Lima’s earlier tweet on Monday, which urged Duterte’s former aide Senator Bong Go to not cover up the government’s incompetence on its pandemic response.
Duterte was not visible to the public for two weeks since his national address on March 29, amid rising COVID-19 infections in the country and the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
“Stop covering up for your boss and misleading us on his true capacity to lead. No one is really in charge,” the senator said in her tweet.
After Duterte’s speech, De Lima tweeted her response on Monday night where she called out the President to just work on handling the country’s pandemic woes.
“Mr. President, maawa ka naman sa taumbayan. Namamatay na mga mahal nila sa buhay ako pa rin ang problema mo?” said De Lima. “Huwag ka rin sinungaling. Alam naman ng lahat na ikaw ang ayaw mag-ban sa mainland Chinese noong kumakalat na ang virus dahil tuta ka nila.”
[Translation: Mr. President, have mercy on the people. Their loved ones are dying and I’m still your problem? Do not be a liar. Everybody knows that you don’t want to ban mainland Chinese people when the virus started to spread because you are their puppy.]
Since she was a Justice Secretary during the Benigno Aquino III administration, De Lima has been very critical of Duterte’s involvement in alleged extrajudicial killings of persons involved in illegal drugs when he was still Davao City mayor.
De Lima has been in jail since 2017 on allegations she used drug money for her senatorial campaign in 2016, but the senator and human rights groups believe the drug charges against her were fabricated to silence her in investigating the administration’s bloody war on drugs. Malacañang has repeatedly denied De Lima’s allegations, saying the charges against her are being tried by the country’s independent courts.
The Muntinlupa RTC Branch 2015 junked De Lima’s drug case with co-accused Jose Adrian Dera.
READ: TIMELINE: De Lima’s four-year struggle in prison
