De Lima: “I’m willing to resign. I’m willing to be shot in front of the President if there is authentic evidence that is not fabricated.”
A much fiercer Senator Leila de Lima appeared before the media on Saturday, August 20, to defend herself from the accusations of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Amid De Lima’s calls for accountability over the rising death toll in the administration’s war against drugs, Duterte on Wednesday slammed De Lima as an “immoral woman” over an alleged affair with her former driver Ronnie Dayan, who he said collected drug money to fund her campaign. Duterte claimed he has evidence and witnesses to back his tirades against the senator.
De Lima, who will lead the Senate inquiry into the drug war as justice and human rights committee chairman, denounced Duterte’s allegations as a tactic to divert public attention from the upcoming Senate investigation.
In her latest press briefing, De Lima expressed her willingness to leave her post and be shot in front of Duterte if the evidences being presented against her were true and were not fabricated.
“I’m willing to resign. I’m willing to be shot in front of the President if there is authentic evidence that is not fabricated.”
The confident De Lima added that Duterte will only be embarrassed in the long run, saying the evidences presented against her were fake, manufactured and fabricated.
“I’m telling you Mr. President, ayaw ko pong mapahiya kayo. Mapapahiya kayo diyan at ayaw ko pong mangyari ‘yan sa inyo. Kung ano man ang ebidensya n’yo diyan, sinasabi ko na sa inyo na ang ebidensya na ‘yan ay hindi totoo. Fake, manufactured, fabricated,” De Lima said in a televised press briefing in Quezon City.
“Ang unsolicited advice ko po sa inyo, kung sino man ang nagsu-supply ng mga impormasyon na ‘yan, pwede ho bang harapin n’yo na sila ngayon at pilitin n’yo na silang magpakatotoo sa inyo… I will stand by my innocence, now and forever,” she added.
(I’m telling you Mr. President, I don’t want you to be embarrassed. Whatever evidence you have, I am telling you, they’re not real. Fake, manufactured, fabricated.
My unsolicited advice to you, whoever is supplying you with that information, please face them and urge them to be honest with you… I will stand by my innocence, now and forever)
The embattled senator cited credible sources and disclosed a supposed plan to link her to drug coddling in the New Bilibid Prisons, which she found out after the elections.
“Nung first week pa lang po after elections, meron na ho sa aking mga nagsasabi na meron daw pong umiikot-ikot sa Bilibid na ang ginagawa ay naghahanap na pwedeng magtestigo… (They are) trying to access certain convicts para ituro ako na isang drug coddler, na ako ay nakikinabang sa droga nila, na ako ay tinulungan nila noong eleksyon through campaign funds, at palabasin na si Ronnie ay bagman,” she said.
“Hindi po ako magtataka kung at this point meron na po silang nakuha na mga ganoon ang sasabihin. Wina-warningan na ho ako dito, ayaw ko lang pong maniwala. Ano man ang kasalanan ko sa Pangulo, iniisip ko na hindi naman siya hahantong sa punto na ito na lantaran at out and out to destroy me,” De Lima added.
(Just a week after the elections, I had been told that there were people going around Bilibid who were looking for witnesses…They are trying to access certain convicts to implicate me as a drug coddler, that I was benefiting from their drug trade, that they helped fund my election campaign, and to make it appear that Ronnie was my bagman.)
The Duterte-De Lima conflict started when the senator was the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) which subjected the then Mayor Duterte to investigations on extra-judicial killings in Davao City.