Sen. Leila de Lima. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
SAYING she was being persecuted, Sen. Leila de Lima said on Thursday she was considering the possibility of filing cases against her detractors for violating her safety and privacy.
“I’m a subject of persecution and I am no longer safe. I don’t feel safe. The truth is I’m not safe!” De Lima said at a news conference at the Senate. She talked to media to address some of the testimonies given at the House inquiry by what she termed as “so-called” witnesses who linked her to drug lords at the National Bilibid Prison.
According to De Lima, not only was she bombarded with hate and threatening messages from the public release of her phone number at the House inquiry but she also had to temporarily leave her house for security reasons.
During the news conference, she read and showed to media some of the messages she had received.
Among the cases she said she might file include seeking a writ of amparo and writ of data habeas, both remedies available to any person whose right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or a private individual or entity.
De Lima was seeking these remedies as she questioned whether she could rely on the police, military and the National Bureau of Investigation for her security needs.
“You know the answer to that,” she told reporters.
Asked whether she has asked help from the Senate on the matter of her security, De Lima said she would take up the matter with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III.
De Lima has an ongoing feud with President Duterte, who accused her of being an immoral woman and a protector of drug lords.
Their feud arose after De Lima, then the head of the Commission of Human Rights, investigated Duterte for allegedly being behind the so-called Davao Death Squad, which some claimed was responsible for executing criminals when he was still Davao City mayor./rga