SENATOR Leila de Lima said Sunday President Rodrigo Duterte was not immune from being sued for collecting and publicizing information about her private life and alleged private affairs.
She asked the Supreme Court to act with dispatch on her petition for a writ of habeas data against Duterte. She said Duterte’s acts constituted slut-shaming, sexual harassment and psychological violence.
She also asked the high court to put an end to Duterte’s statements against her.
De Lima made her statement even as presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said Duterte enjoyed immunity from suit and may not be removed by the Ombudsman.
“The President enjoys immunity while in office and the Ombudsman, although she may investigate, cannot discipline or remove a sitting President,” Andanar said in a statement.
In a memorandum ex abundanti cautela (out of an abundance of caution) in the habeas data case she filed at the high court, De Lima cited several grounds on which the high court should issue a writ of habeas data against Duterte and his men.
She said she filed the case on Nov. 7 to stop Duterte and his men from securing details on her personal life and using them to degrade her dignity as a human being, a woman and a senator.
She cited several occasions when Duterte repeatedly subjected her to crude personal verbal attacks that involved the publication of her alleged personal affairs.
She said the President’s attacks against her had clearly and grossly violated her protected rights and, therefore, were “outside the realm of legitimate public concern” and not covered by official acts.
“These wrongful acts are plainly outside of his power and authority as President of the Philippines, and that no reasonable person would differ from such conclusion,” she said in her 14-page memorandum.
The former Justice secretary said Duterte’s immunity from suit was not an inflexible rule that was automatically applied whenever he was subjected to judicial review for damage done to aggrieved parties.
“The interest in maintaining the dignity of women and protecting them from slut-shaming, sexual harassment, and psychological violence far outweighs the dangers of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch, De Lima said.
