Seated next to jailer, De Lima fumes: How can he not know me?

OLD WOUNDS MADE RAW Former President Rodrigo Duterte finds himself seated next to arch-critic and former Sen. Leila de Lima at Wednesday’s House quad committee hearing. —Photo by Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte visibly ignored former Sen. Leila de Lima and refused to address her by name even though they were seatmates during the House quad committee hearing on Wednesday.

But at one point, he gestured as if throwing a punch at De Lima, his arch-critic, who had spent seven years in jail on drug charges initiated by his administration, when she finally called him out during the proceedings.

As the hearing entered its eighth hour, an exasperated De Lima interjected to point out that her jailer “could not even say my name or refuses to recognize (me as) the former Commission on Human Rights chair.”

READ: Ex-president Duterte shows up at House quad comm drug war hearing

“How can he say that he does not know (me)?” she asked. “In so many occasions, in so many public pronouncements, he has attacked me, he has disrespected me, he said a lot of things about me, and threatened me that I will rot in jail.”

Duterte later claimed that he did not recognize De Lima right away because of her “different hairdo,” before jokingly throwing a punch at her while she was not looking.

His legal counsel seated next to him, Martin Delgra, reached over to put his arm down.

Longtime nemesis

De Lima has been a longtime critic of Duterte and his human rights record back when she was still CHR chair and he was Davao City mayor.

At the time, De Lima launched an investigation into the so-called Davao Death Squad, an alleged group of vigilantes who killed drug suspects on his orders.

When Duterte became president in 2016 and brought his city’s war on drugs to the national level, then-Senator De Lima was among the few opposition figures who questioned its methods.

This made her a target of his administration, leading to the filing of charges against her for drug trafficking, for which she was detained. The cases were all dismissed seven years later.

Trillanes’ dare

Later in the hearing, a minor scuffle ensued after Duterte grabbed his microphone, apparently to hit another critic who was allowed to address the panel, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

The ex-president was triggered after Trillanes dared him to sign a waiver to disprove the allegations he first made in 2017 that Duterte had billions of pesos in drug money kept in different bank accounts.

“Can I slap him (Trillanes)?’’ the ex-president asked one of the lawmakers who asked if he was willing to sign. He then grabbed his microphone again and had to be restrained one more time by Delgra.

Also in the hearing, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez showed Duterte a 2016 Inquirer article titled “De Lima named mother of all drug lords” and asked if he believed it was true.

Duterte replied that he “congratulates” whoever gave that description of the ex-senator.

A furious De Lima denounced the allegation as “fictitious’’ and “bogus.”

“And look at what happened to everyone that made those allegations against me? They all recanted and I was cleared of all three cases. I went through the process even though it was difficult and painful.”