Senator Leila de Lima. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Leila de Lima is eyeing legal action against those responsible for false information spreading online claiming that she has passed away.
In a dispatch from Camp Crame on Friday, De Lima lamented the spread of false content on social media about her supposed death.
De Lima said she is determined to bring the matter to court, in due time.
“This cannot be allowed to go on. I am instructing my legal team to file the necessary legal action against those responsible for this fake news,” she said.
She further stressed that she is “as healthy as I need to be and as long as I have to in order to bring all those responsible for my persecution before the bars of justice.”
“Why are my enemies and detractors so afraid of me, that they have to spread the fake news on YouTube and social media that I am already dead?” she asked.
De Lima pointed to a Youtube video posted on the Banat Trending News channel claiming that she has passed away.
The video is entitled “JUST IN! SAWAKAS PDUTERTE! SEN. DELIMA CONFIRMED! PUMANA4AW NA?” and showed a recent campaign clip of De Lima taken inside Camp Crame.
De Lima said the “persistent attempt” of the fake news peddlers to spread lies about her is already “beyond condemnation, calling it “an abomination of all sense of decency, fairness, and morality.”
“It is they who deserve to be in jail, not me,” she said.
“It is not enough that I have already been unjustly imprisoned for more than five years. It is not enough that I am running for re-election with the handicap of campaigning from jail, without being able to go out to talk directly to voters about my program of government and convince them why I deserve a renewed mandate,” she said.
“It is not enough that I’m not being allowed to conduct live video and audio interviews with the media, or participate in senatorial candidates’ debates and fora as if the mere sight of my face and sound of my voice will cause some instability or be a threat to national security,” she added.
De Lima had also previously debunked false information spreading online claiming she is not qualified to run for another Senate term, as she slammed “paid trolls” for perpetuating “fake news” against her reelection bid.
The senator has been detained since February 2017 over drug-related charges she has repeatedly branded as “trumped-up.”
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