De Lima on allegations vs her: mapapahiya ang pangulo pic.twitter.com/sXMBgOByLV
— Tarra Quismundo (@TarraINQ) September 28, 2016
MANILA, Philippines—Feeling cornered, “helpless” and out of options, a fuming Sen. Leila de Lima on Wednesday renewed her appeal for President Duterte to “stop this madness.”
Her voice trembling in anger, her face anguished, De Lima called on the administration to stop the unending series of allegations against her, saying: “This is really madness! Huminto na po kayo (Stop)!”
“What am I supposed to do now? I’m not going to leave this country and escape anything because there is nothing to escape from!” De Lima shouted, her voice filling up the room.
READ: De Lima calls Duterte ‘lowest, vilest’ man in PH
“This is like a war, what they’re doing to me, because of the intense anger of one person who is now our President,” De Lima said, blowing up in a temper never yet seen in public.
To the President’s men, who she said have been fabricating tales against her, De Lima did not mince words: “They are cowards, they are fools, they are liars!”
The junior Senator appeared in her fiercest presser yet as she again decried allegations that she had received drug money from illicit operations at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) during her time as Justice Secretary.
Several inmates had implicated De Lima in the illicit trade and, most recently, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre claimed that hundreds of millions seized from raids at the NBP raids she had led in 2014 were not declared.
He has also threatened to release De Lima’s alleged sex video with her driver and alleged former lover Ronnie Dayan.
READ: De Lima-Duterte feud evolves into sex talk
The senator has several times denied the allegations, citing information from “A1” sources that the inmates had been coerced and tortured to turn against her.
With the barrage of allegations against her, the Senator feels like she has run out of options.
“Right now, I have no option. I’m just here, I’m just trying to my job. I’m so distracted. Friends would ask me if I am still able to sleep, or eat… I am still able to eat… I still get to sleep, three to four hours, out of sheer exhaustion,” De Lima said.
“It has taken a toll on my health, my wellbeing. My family, my family is suffering,” she said, on the verge of tears.
“This is the worst challenge in its sheer brazenness… it’s almost surreal. It is unprecedented that a sitting President is doing this to a sitting Senator,” she said.
She said the President, who she had angered for her investigation into the Davao Death Squad in 2009, was being peddled lies by “shady characters” surrounding the President.
De Lima addressed the President directly: “Do not blame me later when, all of a sudden, it all blows up on your face, Mr. President, and you will realize that all these are wrong, all these are not true.”
