Solicitor General Jose Calida (left) and Sen. Leila de Lima (right). INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
An “obnoxious creature.”
This was how detained Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday described Solicitor General Jose Calida who reportedly threatened to file a disbarment case against lawyer Jude Sabio, who lodged a complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the continued killings of drug suspects in the country.
Calida was among the 11 other personalities included in the case.
“Of course, Duterte’s allies would be quick to hit Atty. Sabio’s bold move via his communication to the ICC and dismiss the same as ‘doomed.’ Ostensibly so,” De Lima said in a statement from her detention.
“Subliminally, though, if not consciously, these presidential defenders know the grave implications and high stakes involved should ICC formally intervene and indict the President and his enforcers.”
“That is why Solgen Calida, an obnoxious creature as he is, now moves to demonize the complainant, Atty. Sabio, and threatens hims with a disbarment rap,” she said.
READ: SolGen gives De Lima Bar exam result dare: One with lower score quits
De Lima then asked: “When will the President’s underlings ever learn to fight fair and square?”
The senator has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center over drug charges.
Some of her colleagues in the Senate were quick to question the filing of the case at the ICC, with Senator JV Ejercito saying it was meant to embarrass the President as the country is hosting this week’s Asean Summit. IDL
READ: ICC case part of oust-Duterte plot — JV Ejercito