By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday defended Sen. Leila de Lima from President Rodrigo Duterte's insistence that the detained lawmaker accepted payoffs from the drug trade.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senator Risa Hontiveros / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
In a statement, Hontiveros dismissed as "old" and "fake news" Duterte's repeated allegation that the drug charges filed against De Lima were true.
The President made the pronouncement as De Lima marked her 1,000th day of detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Quezon City Wednesday.
"Same old, same old. As usual, fake," Hontiveros said.
"Wala na bang maluto na bagong fake news ang Pangulo? Sayang at may kaldero pa naman silang nagkakahalagang P50 million (Doesn't the President have any fresh fake news to cook up? It's a shame because they have that cauldron worth P50 million)," she added, taking a swipe at the controversial and expensive cauldron constructed in New Clark City, Pampanga for the 30th Southeast Asian Games later this month.
Hontiveros said that De Lima should not have been detained over the false allegations of her supposed involvement in illegal drugs.
"Samantala, ang mga totoong kriminal at big-time drug lord gaya ni Peter Lim ay malaya pa rin (Meanwhile, real criminals and big-time drug lords like Peter Lim are enjoying their freedom)," she pointed out.
"Malaya ang bansang Tsina na kamkamin ang ating teritoryo at malayang-malaya ang mga tiwali at mandarambong at patuloy pa ngang nasa gobyerno (China is free to take over our territory and crooked and rapacious officials are still in government)," she added.
In his speech at the 80th anniversary celebration of the Department of National Defense (DND) in Camp Aguinaldo on Nov. 20, Duterte insisted that De Lima accepted kickbacks from the drug trade to fund her senatorial campaign.