MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Leila de Lima slammed President Duterte’s calling the European Parliament members “naïve” for demanding her immediate release, asserting that its members – and even a silent majority of Filipinos – know that she is a victim of political persecution by the administration and the Chief Executive himself.
“No, Mr. President. They’re not naïve at all. Those European Parliament members calling for my immediate release and describing the charges against me as fabricated, spurious and invented know what they’re talking about,” De Lima responded through a statement from detention at Camp Crame.
Earlier this week, the President said that he pitied the members of the European Parliament for their naivete and went on to call them rotten.
He scoffed at how they described her as a political prisoner and for portraying him as a villain.
De Lima said that the members of the European Parliament “know a case of political persecution when they see one.”
“While ostensibly, the charges against me are criminal offenses – drug trafficking – and not a political one, the same are completely bogus, as they are anchored on coerced, false testimonies, courtesy of your wicked lieutenants and operators,” De Lima said.
“They saw how you unleashed your arsenal of foul means, including invectives and misogynistic attacks, against me. That yours is a deep-seated personal vendetta is too transparent that only the blind and the dumb would fail to see,” she added.
De Lima said that the European parliamentarians would not risk their reputations and that of their political parties unless they were convinced about her innocence.
“They know the truth, Mr. President. They don’t buy your lies about me. So do a silent majority of your people,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros took a shot at the President’s assistant communications secretary Marie Banaag for defending Duterte’s catcalling.
During an event commemorating Women’s Month at Malacañang, Banaag said that the President’s catcalling was generally relative and all depended on who would be hurt by it.
Hontiveros, a staunch advocate of women’s rights, corrected Banaag, saying that catcalling is not at all relative.
“It’s harassment. All forms of catcalling are wrong: unsolicited sexual advances and symptoms of male entitlement,” Hontiveros said.
Source : PhilStar