It’s foul, it’s character assassination–De Lima
Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
On the verge of tears, Sen. Leila de Lima yesterday bewailed President Duterte’s latest tirade against her, calling it an ill-timed “character assassination” just a few days before her Senate committee’s inquiry into the spate of killings in his brutal war on illegal drugs.
“Somebody told me that just now. It’s very surprising. My first reaction now [is] I don’t want to dignify that,” De Lima told reporters at the Senate session hall during a break in yesterday’s proceedings.
“It’s so foul, it’s character assassination. We are both professionals, the President and I. We are both public servants. I hope he doesn’t resort to those foul means. To me, that’s very foul,” said the neophyte lawmaker, her voice trembling.
De Lima agreed to briefly speak to reporters, ironically just after jubilation at the Senate over the arrival of Olympic silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz.
In his remarks in Camp Crame, Duterte blasted a certain “lady senator” for being an “immoral woman,” even accusing her of adultery. The comments, directed at a senator who was critical of the government, apparently referred to De Lima, the President’s staunchest critic in the chamber.
“Wherever that came from, I hope it’s double-checked. I hope the source is verified, where it came from … . That’s really foul. I don’t want to dignify it,” she said.
“And I did not expect the President to do that. That’s the truth,” she said of the man who stopped to shake her hand at Batasang Pambansa just before his first State of the Nation Address on July 25.
In her privilege speech on Aug. 2, De Lima spoke of an apparently coordinated attack to destroy her as she pursued her human rights advocacy amid the President’s drug war.
She said she wanted to cry then, but “I controlled myself. I don’t want to ever cry publicly.”
Speaking to the Inquirer on Monday, De Lima expressed deep hurt for all the attacks against her, including those from the President’s supporters on social media.
“I don’t respond to any of those. I ignore them. The best antidote is to completely ignore them. But it doesn’t mean I am not hurting. I am human,” she said.
She said even her family had been hurt, including the elder of her two sons and her eldest grandchild, who are both special children.
“My eldest is special, he is autistic. And then my eldest grandchild is also autistic, they’re special children. In all of these that’s been happening, I always think of them. They’re hurting,” she told Inquirer editors and reporters.
Through all the attacks, De Lima said she just focused on “the words of encouragement, support and trust from people who matter,” among them former Supreme Court justices.
