Sen. Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/Jilson Seckler Tiu
Senator Leila de Lima did not only condemn but also vehemently protested what she described as “sheer indecency and foulness” of allowing her cellphone number and home address to be disclosed during a televised hearing at the House of Representatives this Tuesday.
“I have no adequate words to express my utter dismay about the lack of foresight and/or utter lack of sheer humanity displayed today during what I can only describe a blatant exercise in harassment and persecution that is the so-called House of Representatives ‘inquiry,’” De Lima said in a statement.
She lamented that as of 8 p.m. this Tuesday, she has been bombarded by text messages, numbering almost 2000, and phone calls from unknown persons allegedly threatening, harassing and calling her “the vilest of names.”
“They have basically destroyed my right to privacy and security in my communications and in my abode. I am now literally a persecuted person displaced from my home. Worse, they have turned people into weapons of destruction,” said the senator.
“This is the country that we live in today. We shame ourselves before our countrymen and the world that we dare compare ourselves to Singapore in terms of making people feel safe,” she said.
What the people have to realize, de Lima said, was that this was not just an offense against her but against everyone.
“They are making me into an example of what will happen to those who dare criticize and call out the abuses of those in power. Who would dare stand up for others now? The real victim here is the people, the oppressed. God save us all,” she said.
De Lima’s phone numbers had been exposed while the House committee on justice was hearing the testimony of convicted robber and drug lord Herbert Colangco, who claimed to have raised drug-money for de Lima, who was then the Justice Secretary.
Colangco alleged that through de Lima’s security aide Joenel Sanchez, he was able to talk to her over the phone to inform that he had secured P3 million for her.
READ: Colangco alleged he gave P3M ‘drug payoff’ to De Lima
De Lima had repeatedly denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade or receiving money from it, saying all allegations were all just fabricated.
READ: So evil, De Lima says of reports linking her to drugs