2,000 hate messages for De Lima after number exposed in Philippine Senate
Philippine Senator Leila de Lima. Pic: AP.
SOME 2,000 threatening messages and calls were made to Senator Leila de
Lima’s mobile phone on Tuesday after her number was revealed during a
public broadcast of the ongoing Senate hearing.
Local news reports said De Lima, who was the day earlier ousted from the
Senate’s justice committee, railed against her comrades in the House
for allowing public exposure of her private details.
“I have been bombarded by text messages, numbering almost 2000, and
phone calls from unknown persons, threatening me, harassing me, calling
me the vilest of names,” she was quoted saying in GMA Network.
“[I have] No adequate words to express my utter dismay about the lack of
foresight and/or utter lack of sheer humanity displayed today during
what I can only describe as a blatant exercise in harassment and
persecution that is the so-called House of Representatives ‘inquiry’.
“They have basically destroyed my right to privacy and security in my
communications and in my abode. I am now literally a persecuted person
displaced from my home. Worse, they have turned people into weapons of
destruction,” the furious De Lima added.
Sen. Leila De Lima cries harassment and persecution after her phone number was exposed at the HORpic.twitter.com/vLFHb4rIMi | @adrianayalin
The House is currently investigating the spate of extrajudicial killings
that took place in the months since Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte took office.
De Lima, a fierce critic of the Duterte administration who has been
pushing hard for accountability in the president’s war on drugs, was the
chairman of the justice committee that had been leading the probe.
On Monday, however, a vote taken by senators forced her and eight
members of the committee to vacate their posts. The vote was called
after De Lima was accused of bias in her presentation of a witness last
week who accused Duterte of masterminding some 1,000 murders in Davao
City during his time as mayor.
De Lima is also facing accusations of complicity in the drug trade
behind the walls of the notorious New Bilibid Prison when she was
justice secretary.
According to Rappler,
during Tuesday’s hearing, witnesses – convicts and inmates – alleged
that De Lima had used a mobile number issued by the justice department
to communicate with drug criminals inside the prison.
GMA Network’s report said convict Herbet Colangco was asked during the
inquiry for the cellphone number that he had called in 2014 to discuss
payoffs with De Lima. Colangco reportedly gave the number and several
members of the House confirmed that it was De Lima’s.
The hearing was aired both on national television and streamed on numerous news sites.
“This is the country that we live in today. We shame ourselves before
our countrymen and the world that we dare compare ourselves to Singapore
in terms of making people feel safe.
“What the people have to realize is that this is not just an offense
against me, but against everyone,” De Lima was quoted saying.
The senator also lamented that she was being made an example of what
would happen to those who dared to criticize the government, adding that
after this episode, not many would dare speak out.
“The real victim here is the people, the oppressed. God save us all,” she said.
