De Lima on Duterte’s tirades: ‘Hindi po ako matitinag’

SEN. LEILA de Lima INQUIRER PHOTO/Kimberly dela Cruz

Senator  Leila de Lima has cried  foul  that President   Rodrigo Duterte has resorted  to “character assassination” when the latter  talked  about an unnamed senator, whom he described as  an “immoral woman” for allegedly  having an affair  with a driver.

“May nagsabi nga sa akin ngayon lang so it’s very surprising,”  de Lima told reporters on Wednesday when sought  for comment. “Ang first reaction ko ngayon, ayaw ko nang patulan yan. I don’t want to dignify that. It’s so foul. It’s  character assassination.”

READ: Duterte blasts female senator: She’s ‘immoral’, an ‘adulterer’

De Lima said the President should  have  not resorted to character  assassination since  they are both professionals and public servants anyway.

“It’s  very foul. Saan  man nanggaling yang information na yan, sana dino-double check, sana inaalam ang source,” she said.

The senator said  she was nevertheless  unfazed by  the   President’s  statements, saying these would not affect  her    resolve to  investigate the  spate of killings in the country under the  Duterte administration.

“Hindi po ako matitinag,”  De Lima said though she admits   that  the timing was “very  bad.”

“I don’t know kung ano ho ang agenda  that  they are  resorting  to  character assassination. That’s a very  clear case of assassination and I don’t expect the President to do that, sa totoo lang,” she said.

Duterte, in a speech  earlier,  talked about a senator, who allegedly has a lover collecting money for her during the campaign.

“Here’s a senator complaining. One day I will tell you that her driver himself, who was a lover, was the one collecting money for her during the campaign,”  the President said.

“An immoral woman, insofar as the driver’s wife is concerned, it’s adultery,”  Duterte further said.

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