Delima: He is very scary, Digong is becoming a monster

photo: inquirer

Leila de Lima has a hate-hate courting with President Rodrigo Duterte, whom she described as a “monster” that must be halted. She painted a troubling scenario beneath a Duterte administration in a roundtable interview with Inquirer newshounds and editors..

De Lima’s hostile dating with Duterte began while she led an investigation into the lifestyles of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group behind the demise of suspected criminals in Davao, when she became still chair of the commission on Human Rights (CHR) at some stage in the Arroyo management.

In a previous televised interview, Duterte had boasted that he become helping the vigilante hit squad. “i am the DDS,” he was also quoted as announcing, though he quickly backtracked and claimed he was simply joking when the announcement triggered a stir.

“(His actions) should be scrutinized and we should be really concerned and really scared. He’s very scary… It’s not at all a laughing matter,” De Lima said.

“(Duterte’s) formula (in curbing criminality) would wreak havoc… on society as a whole,” the sharp-tongued De Lima added, referring to Duterte's promise to stamp out drugs and criminality within three to six months.

“He has become a monster…  There has to be concerted actions (against him),”.
De Lima’s adversarial relationship with Duterte started when she led an investigation into the existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group behind the death of suspected criminals in Davao, when she was still chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) during the Arroyo administration.

Duterte was “rather subdued in the public hearing of the CHR and I really lambasted him,” the former CHR official said.  “He can never forget me because I took him to task. Maybe he has not forgiven me,” she added.

Like a phantom, De Lima said she would haunt Duterte’s administration.

“I’m the first to speak against (Duterte). I used to be the lone voice in the wilderness,” she said.

Source: Inquirer