Duterte to De Lima: Resign, hang yourself

MANILA, Philippines -- As Sen. Leila de Lima faces allegations that she served as protector of illegal drugs in the New Bilibid Prisons, her nemesis has a piece of advice for her.

 

“If I were de Lima, ladies and gentlemen, I’d hang myself,” President Rodrigo Duterte said during a hospital visit to a wounded policeman in Tacloban City on Monday.

 

“Your life is, not just your life, the innermost of your core as a female is being serialized everyday. You should resign,” Duterte, who has made public alleged private details of De Lima's life, said.

 

Duterte said de Lima has lost face because of the exposes about her alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

 

“What face will you show women? ‘Follow me,’ you will say? ‘This is how to be a woman of the world.’ That would be hard to do,” the president said. Aside from alleging that she is involved in illegal drugs, Duterte has also commented on her alleged lovers and has called her an immoral woman for allegedly having an affair with a married man.

 

The senator herself is single, having had her marriage annulled.   

 

Duterte asked de Lima to resign a day after Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Malacañang is leaving it to the Senate to decide on what to do with the senator, who has yet to be formally charged for anything.

 

De Lima was included in the matrix of officials with alleged drug links that Duterte presented to the media last week.

 

Also in the matrix were former Pangasinan governor and now 5th District Rep. Amado Espino Jr., suspended Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan, his brother former Justice undersecretary Francis Baraan, Urbiztondo, Pangasinan Mayor Raul Sison, former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Bucayu and de Lima’s former driver and alleged lover Ronnie Dayan.

 

Duterte claimed that Dayan was de Lima’s connection to the drug lords at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa. He also alleged that Dayan had collected drug money to support de Lima’s senatorial campaign.

 

De Lima has denied the allegations of involvement with drugs.

 

Duterte also accused de Lima of “immorality” for supposedly having an affair with her married driver. He said the senator’s “sexual escapades” had impelled her to violate laws and provide unspecified special privileges to some inmates.

 

De Lima was the Justice secretary during the previous administration. The Bureau of Corrections, which runs the New Bilibid Prisons, is under the Justice department. It was under her watch that raids were conducted in the prison to seize weapons, mobile phones and other contraband.

 

She also had high-profile drug convicts found to be living in relative luxury in the national prison transferred to a National Bureau of Investigation detention facility to separate them from the rest of the prison population. 

 

De Lima has dismissed Duterte’s accusations as a mere “character assassination,” even claiming that the president would lose face for making false claims.

 

The senator, who has vowed to probe the spate of killings of suspected drug pushers, also described Duterte’s drug matrix as “garbage.”

 

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has said that at least six witnesses are willing to support Duterte’s accusations against de Lima and other officials in the matrix.

 

Duterte admitted that he was angered by de Lima’s attempts to link him to the Davao death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group tagged in the killing of criminals in the city, where he served as mayor for 23 years.

 

“She said ‘I will prove that Duterte is the leader of the DDS.” I said ‘What is DDS? Davao Development System,” the president said in jest.

 

“Why do you have to interpret it the wrong way? Who wants to kill his fellow man? You think it’s very easy to kill a fellow human being?  You build a nation over the bones of your countrymen?”

 

Duterte insisted that he is tough on drugs because he has “to save this generation.”

 

“Otherwise, our society would be compromised tomorrow,” he said.

 

The president has accused more than 160 incumbent and former local executives and uniformed personnel of being involved in the narcotics trade. Many have come forward to deny the supposed links to drugs.