President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Martin Andanar said President Rodrigo Duterte’s attack against Senator Leila De Lima should not be taken as a warning against those who question the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
READ: Duterte slams De Lima
“It should not be taken as a warning,” Andanar told a press briefing here Thursday on the sidelines of the PCO’s presentation on the Duterte administration’s first 50 days in office.
“We know the history (between the President Duterte and De Lima), dati rati na silang may hidwaan, dati nang meron silang maanghang na (They had disagreements before and had a sour) relationship when the President was still the mayor and the senator was still the chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), at ngayon ito ang nangyari (and now, this happened),” Andanar said.
De Lima, who recently said she was spearheading the Senate investigation on the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and criminals, have been questioning the administration’s war on drugs, which she said swept aside the right to due process in the country.
The President failed to disclose the basis of his statement allegedly linking De Lima to illegal drugs. RAM/rga
READ: Duterte shames De Lima and says ‘drugs must be destroyed’
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