Senator Leila de Lima said she has been called names—immoral, ugly, monster—by trolls and “Duterte fanatics” since her phone numbers were exposed during a hearing at the House of Representatives.
De Lima disclosed at a press conference on Thursday some of the contents of the almost 2,000 veiled text messages that she received.
“I told you that I’ve been receiving a lot of harassing, intimidating texts from this number kasi itong numero (because this was the cellphone number) that the committee has so recklessly allowed to be publicly disclosed in the course of the inquiry the other day,” she said.
READ: Threats through texts, calls bombard De Lima
“Tuloy hindi ko na magamit itong numero na ito. Wala nang pumapasok na mga legitimate na mga text, puro na lang mga pambabatos, puro na lang mga pananakot and even calls. Non-stop…”
“The fact na non-stop lalo na noong isang gabi, I’m sure galing talaga sa mga kampo na yan. By the nature of the text, by the nature of the messages, these could only come from the trollers and from the Duterte fanatics,” De Lima added.
(As a result, I can no longer use this number. Legitimate texts can’t get through because all I receive are text messages with taunts and threats, and even calls. Non-stop…)
The senator then turned on her phone but she said the first text message that appeared was “obscene” so she decided to just show it to some reporters.
The text message read: “P*kyu,p*kyu,p*kyu.”
De Lima read out loud the other text messages that she received. One of them she said reads: “Ang kapal ng mukha mo, mahiya ka,magbasa ka sa net at try mong pakinggan ang tao, galit na galit na sayo. Coddler, immoral, pangit.”
(You have no shame. Read on the internet and try to heed the people, they are mad at you. Coddler, immoral, ugly.)
Another text message, she said, reads: “Hoy delimaw, kelan ka mababaril sa ulo mo? Kahit katiting wala ka na bang konsensya at kahihiyan? Buking na buking ka na kaya kung kami sayo magsabi ka nalang ng totoo at baka sakaling bumaba pa yung kasong kakaharapin mo.”
(Hey, ‘delimaw,’ when will you shoot yourself in the head? Have you no conscience nor shame? You have been exposed, better tell truth and face a lesser offense.)
“Matanda ka na, konti na lang ang buhay mo sa mundo. Hindi ka ba natatakot na mamatay na makasalanan pwera na lang kung pati sa impyerno gusto mong mapunta,” the other text message reads.
(You are already old, you don’t have much time left on earth. Aren’t you afraid to die in sin? Unless you want to go to hell.)
De Lima said she did not read all the messages but some of them were “threatening.”
“Hindi ko naman binabasa lahat. Kayo ba naman maka receive ng almost 2,000 of such text? Baka nabuwang na po kayo,” the senator added.
(I don’t read everything. Imagine receiving almost 2,000 of such texts, you could go crazy.) CDG/rga
READ: De Lima feels ‘unsafe,’ mulls raps vs detractors