De Lima: Let people judge me

MANILA, Philippines – The probe on extrajudicial killings will continue, and Sen. Leila de Lima does not intend to inhibit from the probe, as suggested by one of her fellow senators.

De Lima, who faces an ethics probe at the Senate, also chose to ignore the latest broadside from President Duterte, saying, “I’ll let the people judge me.”

“You know, close friends, family advised me not to speak on the issue in the meantime because there seems to be no end (to the allegations),” De Lima told reporters. “But what I can say now, I say it again, those accusations against my alleged drug links are complete falsehoods and an absolute lie.”

She reiterated she would not attend the inquiry to be conducted by the House of Representatives on the alleged proliferation of drugs at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) when she was the secretary of justice.

“I initiated (drug raids at the NBP) so why will they investigate me? I found a way to expose the drug problems there. Don’t they know that I exerted certain efforts, steps after discovering all of those inside Bilibid?” she said.

She also branded as unfair Duterte’s allegations that she benefited from prosecuting lawmakers in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam by alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

De Lima faces an ethics complaint in the Senate in connection with her alleged links to illegal drugs.

Duterte on Tuesday tagged De Lima as the protector of drug lords operating in the NBP.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said a complaint was filed against De Lima on Monday by a private citizen. The complaint will be tackled by the chamber’s ethics committee, which he chairs.

He did not give details on the complaint except that it was connected to allegations that De Lima was linked to drug lords operating from the NBP.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters he would ask De Lima to inhibit from presiding over the inquiry on extrajudicial killings led by the Senate committee on justice, which she chairs.

Cayetano said De Lima was clearly biased against Duterte and has caused damage to the country’s image before the international community because of the way she conducted the hearings on Monday and Tuesday.

He said by her own definition, the extrajudicial killings are incidents condoned and/or unacted upon by the state. He said the Duterte administration has condemned extrajudicial killings and has been conducting investigations on the same.

De Lima dismissed the call of Cayetano, who she said was the one who’s biased, being “the defender and apologist” of Duterte.

“Why should I (inhibit)?” she said.