(Eagle News)– President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday (September 28) appealed to Senator Leila De Lima to take some days off, following her outburst in a press conference earlier in the day.
“With all due respect… I think she is breaking down. I suggest she takes days off. If she keeps on yakking, she will have a nervous breakdown,” Duterte said in a press conference before flying for his official visit to Vietnam.
“I’m not trying to derogate her, she’s a lawyer, she’s bright, I would suggest that she takes days off,” the President added.
In an earlier statement, De Lima urged Duterte to arrest her and repeatedly denied her involvement from illegal drug transactions inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
“Tama na. Hulihin ninyo na ako ngayon. ‘Yun naman talaga gusto niyo. Ikulong ninyo na ako ngayon. I’m here. Do what you want to me, Mr. President. I will wait for you,” challenged De Lima.
“I want to fight here in the country. Hindi po ako duwag dahil wala akong kasalanan. ‘Yung mga nagtatago lamang, at tsaka ‘yung mga duwag ang umaatras. Hindi si Leila de Lima. Hindi ako pinalaki ng tatay ko para maging duwag,” the senator added.
Duterte said De Lima had failed to file cases against him despite holding some high positions in the government.
“Look, she was the chairperson of the [Commission on] Human Rights for many years. She was the Secretary of Justice for many years. She has been a senator for a time now. In all of these events in her life, she talked about me harping on EJK. And yet to this date, no cases were filed,” he noted.
De Lima led a Senate probe on the supposed extrajudicial killings on Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
The House of Representatives, along with the Department of Justice (DOJ), also started an inquiry on the proliferation of drugs inside NBP involving De Lima. (Rex Felix Salvador, Eagle News Service)