Senator Leila De Lima
INQUIRER file photo/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
It all started with a joke.
The word war between Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and detained Senator Leila de Lima has reached new heights on Thursday, reigniting the animosity between the two personalities known for their track record in human rights advocacy.
The verbal tussle was prompted by a snide remark by no less than De Lima’s nemesis, President Rodrigo Duterte, two days after she thanked Pope Francis for his “beautiful” gift.
Without mentioning the detained senator’s name in a speech on Tuesday, Duterte scoffed at Pope Francis’ giving of rosary to De Lima, “joking” that he would show the Pontiff her alleged sex video.
“Nagpahambog na bigyan ng rosary ni Pope. Sus si Pope naman uy. Kaya sabi ko, hanapan mo nga ako ng video nung ano, ipakita ko kay Pope,” he said.
(This one bragged about the rosary from the Pope. Oh this Pope. That’s why I said, go find me the video, I’ll show it to the Pope.)
“That’s a joke, aabot ng ano ‘yan (it might get to them). I am joking Pope. But that’s ano—whenever you do a thing it’s just open to… You know if you criticize me, I can criticize you ten times over,” he added.
A day later, Roque backed his boss and came out with a statement that the Pontiff “does not know [the] true nature of [De Lima’s] character.”
And early Thursday afternoon, De Lima lashed out at the spokesperson and called him “grossly un-Christian” for his remarks. She said he does not know her person and ordered him to stop “blabbing” about her “true character.”
Not even three hours after De Lima issued her statement, Roque quickly hit back at the senator, saying nothing was more “un-Christian” than her drug cases and “demeanor” that were unbecoming of a public official.
All these were but a part of the longstanding bad blood between Roque and De Lima, which has begun last year during the height of the Congress’ investigation on the Bilibid drug trade under the senator’s watch as the Justice Secretary.
Roque, then the representative of Kabayan Party-list, was one of the lawmakers who zeroed in on De Lima’s affair with her aide, Ronnie Dayan. He has drawn criticisms for his “indecent” questioning and “dishonorable behavior,” even from his own party.
When Malacañang announced Roque’s appointment as the new spokesperson early November, De Lima called him as a “truth-bender for hire,” and a “great disappointment” to the human rights movement.
“He proved to be a great disappointment to the human rights movement because, previously, he projected himself to be the defender of the oppressed, even lawyering for high publicity cases about abused women, yet he said things that no true human rights advocate would make about another person,” the senator said in a statement.