The embattled Senator Leila De Lima said the Duterte administration was out to “demonize” his critics.
In a statement, De Lima said “that this administration is singularly motivated to demonize its political opponents instead of confronting the illegal drug menace. I am up against the government’s deliberate efforts to undermine the accomplishments of the previous administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.”
The Department of Justice was planning to summon De Lima to explain her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.
“I have no illusion about what I’m up against.
I am up against the belief that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre can exhaust his powers and tap government resources to manufacture false evidence designed to link me to illegal drug trade. You and I know that he does not have a license to abuse his authority to smear my reputation and slander my integrity,” said De Lima.
“Sadly, we have a Justice Secretary who has a propensity for untruthful and thoughtless statements, for feeding us with lies and deceits, and for resorting to fabrication and forgery. These are what we have seen so far in the last four months since this administration has assumed office. The more they speak, the more their lies are exposed,” according to De Lima.
“Since Day One, this administration has not provided solid evidence to substantiate their accusations other than malicious conjectures and manufactured lies. All they are good at is to talk and lambast me in public,” according to De Lima.
“But sooner than we thought, more and more people are now seeing through this administration’s real motive, that is to keep me from talking about their continued disregard to human rights and dignity in the war against drugs.”
De Lima has also called on Duterte to “stop toying with the idea of suspending the writ of habeas corpus in his desperate attempt to legitimize his administration’s flawed war against illegal drugs.”
More will die if Duterte will succeed in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, according to De Lima noting “there is no compelling reason(s) to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus because there is no perceived or actual threat of rebellion or invasion.” “To concede to this temptation would result to more innocent blood gushing, human dignity desecrated, and the basic human rights being blatantly violated.”
De Lima has encouraged Duterte to review what his administration has achieved in the past months in its drive against illegal drugs.