Duterte: De Lima will land in jail

MANILA, Philippines — Cases have not been filed against Sen. Leila de Lima for her alleged involvement in illegal drugs but President Rodrigo Duterte is confident that his fiercest critic would land in jail.

Duterte said De Lima would be pinned down by the testimonies of the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) inmates who accused her of receiving money from drug lords.

"Now that she (De Lima) is in trouble, she wants to drag me. She will really go to jail. I'm sure of that because of the testimonial evidence," the president said yesterday during the induction of the oath taking of the officers of the Malacañang Press Corps, the Malacañang Cameramen Association and the Presidential Photojournalists Association.  

"She will be jailed when everybody says, five (witnesses) could say that they contributed money. So on a national scale…who brought in the narco politics? It is here already," he added.

Asked if his statement is a go-signal for the justice department to file charges against De Lima, Duterte replied: "Yes of course."

"(Cases will be filed) after the investigations are finished. I am sure of my evidence," he added.

The president said "plenty" of non-bailable cases related to drugs may be filed against the senator, who has been critical of his brutal war on narcotics.

"She's (de Lima) the one who should be worried. Those are serious charges. She should not adopt a nonchalant attitude about all of these things. I said she opened the portals of narco-politics to take hold in the national level," Duterte said.

De Lima has been accused of receiving millions of drug money to fund her senatorial campaign when she was justice secretary. In previous speeches, Duterte said De Lima's affair with his former driver Ronnie Dayan made her violate the law and grant special privileges to drug lords at the NBP.

Last week, some NBP inmates revealed in a House hearing that the NBP became a "little Las Vegas" during De Lima's stint as justice secretary. De Lima denied the accusations and claimed that Duterte and his allies are ganging up on her because she launched a probe on the spate of drug-related killings in the country.

De Lima has been a critic of Duterte even before he assumed the presidency. When she was chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, De Lima launched investigations on Duterte's link with the Davao Death Squad, a vigilante group blamed for the killing of criminals in the city. Duterte served as mayor of Davao City for more than 22 years.

Last week, De Lima was ousted by the Senate as justice committee chairperson due to her supposed bias against Duterte. Under de Lima's watch, the committee launched an inquiry on the killing of suspected drug personalities.

'Her sexuality put her down'

Duterte said de Lima has no one to blame but herself for the allegations against her.

"She was the one who started it. You're all spectators who go down national, live, where it was evolving in the days that passed," the president said.

"Lumaki ang ulo niya (It went to her head). When she was chairman of the (Commission on) Human Rights, somebody might have told her that she can become a president or senator. You know, the ambition was good but her sexuality put her down," he added.

Duterte said de Lima would be "finished" once her intimate video surfaces.

"I'd ask her ‘Miss de Lima, I've kind of a blurred, vague memory of your persona… I'm establishing the character of you. Is this you pumping?' So the next question will be drugs," the president said.

"You know, every time I view the video, I lose my appetite."

WATCH: Duterte on de Lima: Whenever I watch that video, I lose my appetite @PhilippineStar @PhilstarNews pic.twitter.com/1mY1LcPOUc

— Alexis B. Romero (@alexisbromero) September 26, 2016

Duterte said de Lima need not worry about having affairs once she is in prison.

"She will have about how many lovers there if she wants. I am really tough when it comes to insulting… I am doing nothing and yet she keeps on talking," he said.

De Lima, for her part, said Duterte desecrated the "hollowed grounds of Malacañan" with his foul mouth in hurling another round of accusations against her.

"I cannot resist asking the President, what do you see in me that you find so sexual? Why is your mind so fixated on my sexual aspect? You are obsessed with me. Why?" De Lima said in a statement released following Duterte's address.