De Lima tells Duterte: Shut up

Department of Justice Sec. Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Monday told Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to shut up after the

latter accused her of not doing her job in building a case against suspected smuggling lord David Tan.

Duterte, in his Sunday television program Gikan sa masa, para sa masa, scored De Lima for failing to build a case around Tan.

“They have the same address, the same company names, they even have the same lawyers and yet, they’re not the same?” Duterte asked, based on reports that Tan had been ordered released by the NBI after he showed up at the agency’s main office in Manila last week to clear his name.

“Stop talking and start working,” Duterte said.

De Lima, however, retorted: “He wants me to shut up. I think he should be the one to shut up. Everybody is aware that he’s got a lousy mouth.”

De Lima told reporters that the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation is doing its job.

“Don’t worry Mayor Duterte, we are doing our job and we don’t need a reminder from you…I think, our record will speak for itself,” De Lima said, adding that in fact it was the DoJ who has been saying that Davidson Bangayan is David Tan.

“I do not know where his statement is coming from,” she said.

Meanwhile, De Lima said a shoot to kill order issued by Duterte against smugglers is illegal.

“Shoot to kill order has no place under our Constitution and our system of law,” De Lima said.