Alvarez: ‘No.1 drug lord’ De Lima not politically persecuted

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Monday tagged detained Sen. Leila de Lima as the “number one drug lord in the Philippines” and denied that the administration was persecuting her for being a fierce critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his policies.

In a joint press briefing with Duterte and Senate President Koko Pimentel in Malacañang, Alvarez maintained that De Lima was jailed because of her alleged involvement in illegal drugs and not for any political reason.

“Huwag po tayong maniniwala na hanggang ngayon ay yung maliliit lang po ang biktima dito sa ginagawa nating war on drugs. In fact nakakulong na po ang public enemy number one, ang number one drug lord sa buong Pilipinas ay nakakulong na po, ito po ay yung senadora natin si Leila De Lima,” Alvarez said.

(Don’t believe that the war on drugs is only targeting ordinary people. If fact, the public enemy number is detained, the number one drug lord in the Philippines is in jail, and this is Senator Leila De Lima.)

“Ngayon po nakikita natin na tuluy-tuloy pa rin ang kasinungalingan. She’s posturing as if merong political persecution. Mali po, hindi po totoo ‘yun. Meron po syang na-commit na crime which is involving illegal drugs. Yan po ay krimen. Malinaw po nyan na krimen at malinaw po syang criminal. Hindi po sya biktima ng political persecution dahil wala po yan ngayon. Hindi po yan nangyayari sa ilalim ng liderato ng ating Pangulo,” he added.

(Now we can still see that lies are continuing. She’s posturing as if there’s political persecution. It’s wrong, that’s not true. She committed a crime, a crime that involves illegal drugs. That’s a crime. Clearly it’s a crime and she’s a criminal. She is not a victim of political persecution because that’s not happening. It’s not happening in the leadership of our President.)

Duterte also alluded to De Lima as the “top drug trafficker in government” in a part of his address to the media. “The number one drug-trafficking (personality) is a government official and is now in prison,” the President said.

De Lima is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame for her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison, which she dismissed as politically motivated and personal vendetta./ac