Dispatch from Crame No. 476: Sen. Leila M. de Lima’s statement on Duterte’s latest tirades against her and the ICC case

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Another day, another senseless meandering from a madman.

Without any provocation on my part, Duterte again rambled about me and his ICC case. Duterte’s guilty conscience is eating at him and will haunt him for the rest of his days. He is again beating his chest and hiding behind empty words in a desperate attempt to fend off the arms of justice that is coming to him slowly but surely.

Duterte has the gall to call himself a lawyer like me. I’m nothing like him. I serve our country, our Constitution, and our people. He serves himself and maybe China and the drug cartels. I follow the law. He twists them to his ends. He shouldn’t presume to lecture about the law. I know the law. He doesn’t.

He shouldn’t be blinded by the fact that he gets his way now. He is enabled by people who seek to profit from him. He does not operate on the basis of what is right.

Duterte and his ilks cannot boast of my detention. I am here because they abused their offices to fabricate fake cases against me. I am innocent. He is not.

My courage comes from knowing the truth. It is genuine. His “courage” is based on lies that he keeps on convincing himself to be true. It is false. Duterte is a fraud; a big mistake. When he is no longer in power, people will stop believing his lies; then he can no longer abuse his office to evade the law and commit injustice.

He can insult the ICC all he wants. But the fact remains that he is bound by it. Because we, the Philippines, is a state-party to it, now and at the time when the ICC commenced its inquiry into the Philippine situation, into the crimes against humanity attributable to Duterte.

The ICC has been nothing but fair to him. But his paranoia, brought about by his guilt, causes him to consider the ICC as an enemy. It is but human nature to fear those who will bring them to justice.

I understand he gets agitated everytime he is reminded of his crimes. But he shouldn’t worry too much about it. Justice will come for him soon enough.

The difference between Duterte and me? He fears the truth, I embrace it.

The clock is ticking, Mr. President. ###

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