Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has urged Mr. Duterte to stop hurling insults against Vice President Leni Robredo to defend his administration’s flawed policies that promote abuses and corruption in public service.
De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, lamented how Duterte has set a bad example towards the officials under him by not calling out, and worse, even tolerating, their wrongdoings and unethical practices.
“Tila ayaw tantanan sa pang-iinsulto ni Duterte si VP Leni. Abogado raw na walang alam sa batas? Mahiya naman kami sa iyo, Mr. Duterte, sa pagka-humble mo tungkol sa pagkamagaling mo sa batas,” she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 640.
“Nagawa mo pang gawing tama ang pangungurakot at pangongotong ng kapulisan para lamang idiin na mali si VP Leni na sabihing bawal tumanggap ng lagay ang mga pulis,” she added.
After Robredo called on the administration to re-assess its all-out campaign against the illegal drug trade, Mr. Duterte offered her to become a “drug czar” with the Cabinet rank post as she may have a better method to solve the country’s drug menace.
Duterte, however, asked his supporters not to vote for Robredo if she seeks the presidency come 2022 elections because she supposedly has no knowledge about the laws in the country.
Note that Robredo further fuelled Duterte’s ire after she criticized him for saying that police officers should accept gifts if these are given out of gratitude or generosity.
De Lima, considered as the most prominent political prisoner under the present government, pointed out that Mr. Duterte has a distorted way of viewing what is right and wrong.
“Sa mundong ginagalawan mo na puro kabaligtaran ng tama ang umiiral, pwede nga namang mangotong ang pulis, pumatay o magpapatay ang Pangulo, magsinungaling ang iyong Tagapagsalita, makulangan pa ang iyong Foreign Secretary sa dami ng iyong mga pinapatay, maabswelto ang mga magnanakaw at mandarambong at ipagkanulo mo ang Pilipinas sa Tsina kapalit ng tatlumpung piraso ng pilak,” she said.
Under his leadership, Duterte has encouraged the police force to put the law in their hands and used them to unleash a nationwide bloodbath disguised as his war on drugs. (30)