Photo from Leila de Lima’s official Facebook page
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Detained Senator Leila de Lima warned the son and son-in-law of President Rodrigo Duterte that his staunch critic, Sen. Antonio Trillianes IV, is hot on their trail.
This was her warning after she criticized Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and the President’s son-in-law, Atty. Manases Carpio, for refusing to answer the questions thrown at them by Trillianes.
The two appeared on the Thursday Senate hearing of the P64-billion shabu shipment.
In her statement released on Friday, September 8, De Lima said Vice Mayor Duterte and Carpio’s refusal to answer questions at the probe and seeing Senators ‘almost lawyering for them’ did not surprise her.
Customs fixer Mark Taguba tagged Vice Mayor Duterte and Carpio as members of the so-called “Davao group” that is allegedly involved in the drug smuggling and corruption issues in the Customs Bureau.
He recanted his accusation later.
“Of the things I expected, Pulong Duterte and Mans Carpio’s refusal to answer questions directed at them, their arrogant smirks of false bravado, and their not-at-all concealed contempt for the proceedings and its goal to ferret out the truth rank high,” De Lima said.
“I guess it is only to be expected when in the presence of the ‘The Prince That Was Promised’,” she added.
De Lima also stressed that Duterte and Carpio’s “fake laugh of false bravado, and presumptuous ‘these questions are irrelevant’ are indicators that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is hot on their trail”.
She asserted that the denial of corruption including the “tara system” of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was ”like the denial of the existence of the so-called murderous group, the Davao Death Squad (DDS) believed to be responsible in the summary killings in the city.”
De Lima has earlier attributed the rise of extrajudicial killings in the country to President Duterte and his war against drugs.
“If I had any takeaway from yesterday’s hearing, it is that we are living at a time when public officials can publicly and unabashedly claim for themselves and their own the same rights that they deny other people. It’s a bleak time for our nation: a nation where some citizens will have to make do with having less in life and in law,” De Lima said.(davaotoday.com)
