De Lima agrees with Bette Midler: Duterte among world’s detestable leaders
Sen. Leila de Lima. (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines—Opposition Senator Leila De Lima agreed with actress Bette Midler that President Rodrigo Duterte is among the world’s most detestable leaders, adding that history books would be written with the chief executive being labeled among the “mass murderers” who terrorized millions.
Midler, a known outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump, associated Duterte with the other controversial world leaders such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Kim Jong Un in a tweet over the weekend.
Malacañang has already fired back at Midler, calling her “gullible” with no rights to comment on the internal affairs of other countries.
But for De Lima, Duterte’s staunchest critic, Midler “only speaks the truth.”
“History books will be written with Duterte’s name alongside the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Suharto, Marcos, Pinochet, Idi Amin, and all other mass murderers who terrorized millions,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
Since being elected into power in 2016, Duterte has made the crackdown on illegal drugs the focal point of his administration, continuing the brutal campaign against illegal drugs which he used in Davao City while he was still mayor.
Over 5,500 individuals have been killed in the government’s war on drugs, data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said. But human-rights groups have counted that as much as 27,000 lives have been claimed by the drug war death and by unknown hitmen.
“Rodrigo Duterte is one of the world’s most detestable leaders. Everybody knows this,” the former Justice secretary claimed.
“If killing 27,000 people, including children and minors, while letting big time drug lords go free does not make him one, then we might as well hail Satan as the epitome of everything good and pure in this world,” she added.
The senator also slammed Malacañang’s dismissal of any criticisms from foreign entities on the drug war, branding the Duterte administration as “onion-skinned.”
“Balat sibuyas ang administrasyong ito sa harap ng katotohanang hindi na ito nagtatagumpay sa pagpapanggap na buhay ang demokrasya sa ating bansa at gumagana ito sa ngalan ng katotohanan at katarungan,” De Lima said.
(This onion-skinned administration could not face the truth that it no longer succeeds in pretending that democracy is alive in our country and that it works in the name of truth and justice.)
“Kaya kung may higit mang kasuklam-suklam pa kay Duterte, ito yung patuloy na pagtatanggol at pagbubulag-bulagan sa mga pang-aabuso sa karapatang pantao na ginagawa ng administrasyong ito,” she added.
(What’s more obnoxious than Duterte is the administration’s continued defense and forbearance to the human rights abuses.)
De Lima has been in detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center since Feb. 24, 2017 on charges that she was involved in the illegal drug trade.
She has denied the charges, saying they were fabricated in retaliation for her fierce criticism of Duterte’s brutal war on drugs and monitoring of his human rights record since the time she headed the Commission on Human Rights in 2008.
