Press Release
April 7, 2019

Duterte needs to do 'soul-searching' -De Lima

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has given an unsolicited advice to Mr. Duterte to do some soul-searching after eliciting an overflowing amount of hatred from people who have grown exasperated of his incompetency during his recent birthday.

De Lima, a known human rights defender here and abroad, questioned Duterte's capability to solve the pressing issues in the country and improve the plight of the Filipino people in his remaining three years in office that will expire in June 2022.

"The rest of the informed citizenry has had enough. Time to do some serious soul-searching, Mr. President," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 498.

"Are you still capable of bringing any good or righteous normalcy to our country? Or is it now a road to perdition all the way. Are you even capable of pure enlightenment! Marunong ka bang maawa sa bayan?" she asked.

De Lima cited the "uninhibited spiteful" comments that populated social media on Duterte's 74th birthday last March 28, such as "Sleep forever and rest in hell," "May you rest in peace, forever" and "Don't' wake up anymore, go to hell!"

The lady Senator from Bicol said she cannot recall any other Philippine President in recent memory or distant political history who has elicited such hatred and contempt from the Filipino people.

"Not even the dictator Marcos or (former president) Gloria (Macapagal) Arroyo had invited such level of authentic scorn or virulence," she said.

While many Filipino people are already seeing through the lies and incompetency of Mr. Duterte and his administration, De Lima admitted there are still fanatical supporters who remain oblivious of the President's failed governance.

"That's what fanaticism is all about-a blind devotion, coupled with a perverse notion about the invincibility of a demagogue idol," she noted.

The former justice secretary wished for Duterte's "true and profound enlightenment" on his birthday in the hope of encouraging him to rethink his crooked policies that only bring terror to the public while targeting the marginalized sectors.

De Lima, considered as a leading prisoner of conscience, is currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City for absurd drug charges invented by the Duterte administration for political reasons and personal vendetta.

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