Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo (left) advised Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, to seek medical help as he warned her that she could be cited for inciting to sedition over her recent rantings against President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILES
President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel on Thursday warned embattled Sen. Leila de Lima that she may be held liable for inciting to sedition for her tirades against the chief executive.
Lawyer Salvador Panelo’s warning came a few days after Justice Secretary Vitalinao Aguirre also told the senator that her tirades against the President could be considered “inciting to sedition.”
READ: Aguirre warns De Lima over inciting to sedition
“Her continued and relentless tirades against President Duterte could lead to criminal liability for the commission of the crime of inciting to sedition,” Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said that under the law, “inciting to sedition refers to a crime committed by someone who, without taking any direct part in sedition, incites others to inflict any act of hate or revenge against the person of the President by means of speech, among others.”
On Tuesday, de Lima called Duterte a “sociopathic serial killer” and “dictator,” a day after self-confessed hitman SPO3 Arturo Lascañas bared how he had committed murders as member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), allegedly on orders of the then mayor Duterte.
READ: De Lima to Cabinet: Declare ‘criminal’ Duterte unfit as President
“Senator Lila de Lima may be off her rockers when she described President Duterte as a “sociopathic serial killer” and “dictator,” Panelo said.
The Palace official said the public already “repudiated” Duterte’s alleged invovlement on extrajudicial killings after his overwhelming victory during the May 2016 elections.
“The electorate in giving President Rodrigo Roa Duterte an overwhelming mandate has factored such issue hence the people have spoken in repudiating such lie,” he said.
Panelo advised de Lima to seek treatment on her mental and psychological state.
“Concerned with the mental and psychological state of Senator Lila de Lima, it is for her best interest that she engages the services of a competent medical professional to assist her in these trying times,” he said.
De Lima has traded barbs with Duterte for her alleged involvement tin the narcotics trade in the country when she was still a justice secretary.
On February 17, three cases were filed against Sen. Leila de Lima for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC). CBB
READ: DOJ files 3 drug cases vs De Lima, Dayan, others