De Lima names Alvarez, Calida, Aguirre behind hatchet job

Privilege speech of Senator and former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, The Real Crisis We Face: Stop the Killings Now!, at the Senate Session Hall. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

SENATOR Leila de Lima has identified  the  “President’s men” who she said were trying to  “discredit” her.

Among them, she said, were Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Solicitor General Jose Calida and Justice  Secretary Vitaliano  Aguirre.

“Hindi lang naman si Speaker ang tumitira sa akin, ng mga kung ano ano ang mga insinuations. Si Solicitor General  and the  latest is the Secretary of Justice,” she  said in an interview  over Radyo Inquirer  Tuesday night.

“These are the president’s men. Now, what am I supposed  to think and say about that? These are the President’s men trying to discredit a sitting senator,” she said.

Before this, De lima delivered a privilege speech in the Senate, accusing the President’s men behind the demolition job against her by allegedly portraying her in public as a “drug lord coddler” and “protector.”

READ:De Lima: Duterte’s men depicted me as drug lord, protector

In her speech,  the senator mentioned about the Speaker’s plan to investigate  the alleged proliferation  of  illegal drugs inside the  New Bilibid Prison when she was still the Justice Secretary.

She also noted Aguirre’s recent claim that  high ranking officials of the Department of Justice from the previous  administration  were in the payroll of the NBP drug lords.

De Lima  also  hit  Calida earlier  for releasing a photo supposedly showing her with maximum security inmate Jaybee Sebastian.

READ: De Lima to SolGen: Focus on your job not on throwback 

Despite this,  the senator said she would give the  President’s men   the benefit  of the doubt, saying there  might be other “elements” who were feeding the  President’s  fabricated lies.

Asked if the  demolition  job could have also come from Malacañang,  De Lima  said: I would not say that at this point.”

“In fact, sana hindi nakakarating yang mga ganyan sa Pangulo o sana kung nakakarating sa kanya , hindi sya naniniwala,”  she said.