Press Release
July 12, 2019

De Lima outraged by Duterte's admission on past killing spree to please Arroyo

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed outrage over Mr. Duterte's claim that he killed people to please then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, saying his declaration normalizes killing as a state policy.

"Killing is not normal but Duterte is normalizing it as state policy. We should resist it. We should be outraged that the highest official of the land is boasting of his killing adventure in the past and even now," said De Lima, the staunchest critic of the Duterte regime's sham war on illegal drugs.

During the appreciation dinner for Arroyo last Tuesday night, Mr. Duterte declared that he had killed someone because he felt that the former Chief Executive and House Speaker wanted it.

"Of course, wala akong pinatay na tao na utos niya. Pinatay ko na lang kasi feeling ko gusto niya. Maraming salamat po," Duterte said in the latter part of his speech.

Reacting to Duterte's controversial statement, De Lima said she expects Malacanang apologists to downplay it as one of his many sick jokes, but it will not draw any laugh from self-respecting Filipinos and the international community.

De Lima, a former justice secretary, said Mr. Duterte's admission only proves that he is a certified Arroyo's puppet who is "ready to do anything, even to kill people, so as to please her and advance their evil political agenda."

"All these daily killings we see now have become so emboldened because Duterte has enabled it. He should be held accountable, along with those who conspired and encouraged his policy of killing people," said De Lima.

The lady Senator from Bicol said Duterte's oft-repeated admission about killings confirms that he is indeed a "killing machine" who has no qualms murdering the Filipino people, especially the poor.

"Our people are getting killed every day, and this should be more than enough reason for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to begin their investigation now," she said.

De Lima, a defender of human rights and social justice, has renewed her call to the UNHRC and the ICC to stop the "Duterte killing machine" by conducting an independent investigation on the thousands of killings in the government's war on drugs.

Even in detention, De Lima is also expected to submit an anti-EJK Bill, which seeks to strengthen accountability of personalities involved in the government's war on illegal drugs that has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Filipinos.

In an effort to silence De Lima, the government has used perjured and coerced witnesses to unjustly and illegally detain her despite her innocence from all the accusations.

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