SENATOR Leila de Lima on Tuesday said it is President Rodrigo Duterte who has been giving the Philippines a bad image due to his foul mouth and the extrajudicial killings of over 3,000 drug suspects since he assumed the presidency in July.
She said Duterte has already proven that he is more than capable of single-handedly giving the country a bad image before the entire world in just three months in office.
In this respect, she said, Duterte did not need any help from anyone, least of all her.
“So please don’t pass the blame on me, that I am the one giving a bad image to the Philippines because I did not curse [US President Barack] Obama and [UN Secretary-General] Ban Ki-Moon,” said De Lima in a privilege speech delivered a day after being stripped of the chairmanship of the Senate justice and human rights committee.
She strongly opposed the claim of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s defeated running mate in the May 9 elections, that she was giving the Philippines a bad image.
Aside from the summary executions of drug suspects, De Lima also castigated Duterte for indiscriminately hurling invective at the officials of the UN and the world like Pope Francis, Obama and Ban Ki-Moon.
The former Justice secretary also exhorted the public to remove their blindfold and criticize the “uncontrolled” mouth of Duterte that they have been defending.
“These killings have been giving bad image to the Philippines now,” De Lima said.
She said the killings of more than 30 persons everyday would still be killing in the eyes of the world, whether Leila de Lima is there or not there.
She questioned Cayetano, whom she branded Duterte’s “national defender,” if the country’s image in the world would become good since he emerged victorious in ousting her as justice committee chairman.
“It’s possible because Senator Cayetano is not prohibited from dreaming,” she added.
“I am not killing our countrymen,” said De Lima, referring to a witness before her testimony who testified that Duterte was behind her ouster from the Senate committee on justice.
She also commended Cayetano for making her realize that a committee chairmanship is not the end of everything for her as a senator.
“No committee chairmanship is worth it, if it means sacrificing my principles and surrendering the causes that I pledged my life to fight for,” she said. “Many friends and colleagues have told me, if only I did not call out the President on the murderous consequences of his war on drugs and decided to be as meek as a sheep, I would not be in this trouble, and I would still have the committee chairmanship. As the Bible says, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose his”¨soul? I choose to keep my soul,” De Lima said.
De Lima also said the witnesses against her at Tuesday’s House hearing had an ax to grind against her, or were being pressured by Malacañang to testify against her.