Duterte to Roxas: Goodbye if De Lima runs

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would part ways with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the presumptive presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), if LP fields Justice Secretary Leila de Lima as one of its candidates for senator.

Duterte, who claimed Roxas is a close friend and ally, said if that happened, he might also run and join the presidential race.

“It might interest me to run and that would leave us against each other,” Duterte said, addressing Roxas.

“I might not only be campaigning with the other side, I might also run,” Duterte added.

He said he would also campaign for whoever would be De Lima’s opponent.

“Whoever will be her opponent, I will campaign for him,” said Duterte, “If Mar will take her in the LP slate for the Senate, I’ll tell Mar, goodbye,” he said.

Duterte’s bitter spat with De Lima started when De Lima was still human rights commissioner and investigated extrajudicial killings in the city attributed to the Davao Death Squad (DDS), which is being linked to Duterte.

She also recently rebuked Duterte over his publicly issued threats against criminals.

“You and De Lima go together with her rotten principle,” he said, addressing Roxas.

Duterte went on to question De Lima for arresting former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo without a warrant of arrest in 2011.

He also dismissed anew reports that he had links with the DDS and challenged De Lima to file a case against him in court.

Duterte said he would be pleased to face the justice secretary as long as she agrees to take the witness stand and answer his questions under oath.

He said if a case had been brought up against De Lima for ordering Arroyo’s arrest in 2011 without legal basis, he could also convict the justice secretary with only five questions.

He said Arroyo can take the witness stand and he would ask her questions like “were there cases filed?”

Duterte said if Arroyo denied that a case had been filed against her at the time of her arrest, he would continue the questioning.

“Were you stopped at the airport? Why were you stopped? Who stopped you? Was there any legal document presented to you during the arrest, any arrest warrant?” Duterte said.

He said Arroyo’s answers would be enough to convict De Lima of violating the law against warrantless arrests.

Duterte also warned that President Aquino might be culpable, too, if De Lima is convicted of wrongful arrest.

“She will drag the President (Mr. Aquino) along with her because then, I will also have to ask her, who ordered you to make such arrest?” Duterte said.

“Even if the case was filed later, at the time of the arrest, there was no legal document to do it, and that is already a violation of the law,” he said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao