Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE
President Rodrigo Duterte is in ‘panic’ for challenging Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to resign with him, Sen. Leila de Lima said Wednesday.
In a dispatch from Camp Crame, the senator said the President’s dare to the two officials were “neither here nor there.”
“These are two women with balls that even in time of Duterte have lost. The two have no reason to resign. The two are perfectly in sync with reality performing their jobs, while Duterte continues to suffer from a mental disorder of epic proportions,” she wrote.
Duterte’s challenge comes as the investigation into his wealth by the anti-graft body has begun. He also accused Sereno and Morales of corruption, and at the same time being used in efforts to destroy his reputation.
“This of course all started with the gutsy expose of the Ombudsman on his P2-B peso bank transaction records as documented by AMLC,” but de Lima said these were later “damaged-controlled by Malacañang issuing denials for AMLC and deputy ombudsman backtracking.”
Malacañang did not issue a denial from the AMLC. It was the AMLC that issued a statement denying it provided documents to Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang.
If he is proven to be just another thief, de Lima said he would be just like the strongman President Ferdinand Marcos.
“But more than Marcos, a killer, a thief, and a madman, as only Duterte can be,” she said.
Duterte is detained at the PNP Custodial Center over charges that she collected drug money from New Bilibid Prisons inmates to finance her candidacy to the Senate. /cbb