De Lima hits Duterte’s alleged tagging of political rivals as drug lords

Former senator Leila de Lima and former president Rodrigo Duterte (GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE; MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Leila De Lima, who was detained for more than six years for drug-related charges during the Duterte administration, on Friday said it seemed that there was a “pattern” in branding political rivals as drug lords during that time.

De Lima was reacting to the revelations of former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who was likewise linked to the illegal drugs trade.

“Ako ang unang na-brand niya as (I was the first to be branded as)  ‘The Mother of Drug Lords’, ‘The Bilibid Drug Trading Queen’, ‘No. 1 Narcopolitician’,” De Lima said in an ambush interview.

“Ako ang unang siniraan nila, katulad din ng sinasabi ngayon ni former mayor Jed Mabilog na hindi naman pala totoo na dapat  kasama siya sa listahan, tina-target lang siya dahil sa pulitika na naman,” she added.

(I was the first one they besmirched. Like what former mayor Mabilog said, it is not true that he should be on the list, he was just targeted because of politics.)

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Friday said Mabilog was not on the initial list of police generals and government officials supposedly aiding the illegal drug trade, but his name was only included in the list produced by then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Yun talaga ang nagiging pattern, kung makikita natin sa rebelasyon na ‘yan,” De Lima said.

(That’s the pattern, if we base it on  on his revelation.)

READ: PDEA confirms: Mabilog wasn’t on initial narcolist, name was just added

Mabilog on Thursday also revealed that there was a scheme to force him to tag former senators Manuel “Mar” Roxas and Franklin Drilon as drug lords.

For De Lima, the accusations during that time were done as a “diversionary tactic.”

“They want somebody, a figure … ako ang pinicture nila na involved sa droga, yun pala sila-sila yon. Malaking-malaking panloloko ang ginawa nila sa bayan in the name of war on drugs,” she said.

(They wanted somebody, a figure, to depict me as someone involved in drugs, but it turned out to be them. They fooled the country big time, in the name of the war on drugs.)

De Lima, who was charged and arrested in 2017, had always maintained her innocence, claiming that the charges were baseless and in retaliation to the investigation she conducted in the Senate on the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war.

De Lima, who was detained for six years, eight months, and 21 days, also announced on Friday that she will be the lead nominee of Mamamayang Liberal (ML) party-list, the sectoral wing of the Liberal Party.