President Rodrigo Duterte. AP FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY–PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday distanced himself from the Senate majority’s action that ousted Sen. Leila De Lima as chair of the Senate Committee on Justice.
“I do not intervene or dwell into matters not within, not part of my territory”, Duterte said in an ambush interview after speaking to the victims of the deadly Davao blast.
The President was reacting to De Lima’s accusation that he was behind moves to remove her as head of the panel that was investigating extrajudicial killings in the country.
“Majority po ang nag-oust sa akin bilang chair ng committee on justice. Wala po akong duda na mayroong kinalaman dyan ang ating Pangulo,” De Lima said in a television interview shortly after her ouster as head of the committee.
“Bagamat nirerespeto ko po ang aking mga kasamahan, siguro po pwede kong masabi na naiitindihan ko ang ginawa nila pero uulitin ko po yun, imposible po walang kinalaman dito ang ating Pangulo,” she added.
On Senator Manny Pacquiao’s motion, sixteen senators voted to declare the chairmanship and the membership of the committee vacant, only four voted against it while two senators abstained.
READ: De Lima ousted as Senate justice chair
De Lima suspected that the President got angrier with her after she presented during last week’s hearing a witness, Edgar Matobato, who had accused Duterte of ordering the killings of enemies and criminals in Davao City when he was still the mayor.