De Lima To Duterte: Arrest Me Now

Arrest me now.

This was how Senator Leila de Lima challenged Preisdent Rodrigo Duterte, on Wednesday, as she stressed that she will not back down from the president, who has been linking her into illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.

The former Justice secretary faced the media, following the stabbing incident triggered by a 'riot' that happened inside the New BIlibid Prison (NBP) that killed a convicted Chinese drug lord and injured three other high profile inmates.

De Lima, in a press briefing, on Wednesday, appealed to the Duterte administration to "stop this madness" as she already feels helpless.

"Tama na. Hulihin n'yo na ako ngayon kung 'yan naman talaga ang gusto n'yo. Ikulong n'yo na ako ngayon. I'm here. Do what you want to do to me, Mr. President. I'll wait for you," De Lima said.

De Lima challenged the president after the latter said that the senator is most likely to end up in jail because of the testimonies presented by NBP inmates in a house inquiry, despite the non-filing of formal charges against her.

The witnesses accused De Lima of receiving money from drug lords while she was a Justice secretary.

Aside from her alleged link to illegal drugs trade, Duterte and his allies, including House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, have also been referring to a supposed sex video that allegedly shows De Lima in bed with her former driver Ronnie Dayan.

It has yet to be decided if the video will be allowed to be shown to the members of the House Justice committee to supposedly confirm whether De Lima had a relationship with Dayan, who has also been accused of being involved in the illegal drug trade at the NBP.

Despite several issues being thrown against her, De Lima insisted that she will stay in the Philippines.

De Lima even did not listen to the advice of some of her friends to seek asylum outside the country, as she believed that she should finish the battle in the country.

"Why should I do that? I want to fight here in my country. Hindi po ako duwag dahil wala po akong kasalanan," the senator said.

"Duwag ang umaatras, hindi po si Leila de lima. Hindi po ako pinalaki ng tatay ko na maging duwag," De Lima added.

Meanwhile, De Lima said that the stabbing incident at Building 14 of the NBP is an attempt of the administration to pin her down.

"We just saw a news item quoting [House] Speaker [Pantaleon] Alvarez saying that somebody must be out to silence [Jaybee] Sebastian. Ano na naman ang mga implication nila? Kagagawan ko na naman yan? Sila ang nanggigipit sa akin. Masyado na nila akong ginigipit, inaapi," the senator said.

The senator did not believe on the occurence of the riot inside the NBP, as she argued that Building 14 of the NBP is supposed to be the most guarded facility in the country given that police Special Action Force troopers are deployed at the penitentiary.

De Lima even released text messages from a reliable source claiming that one of the injured inmates in the stabbing incident inside the NBP, is being forced to testify against her.

"In your desperation, pangulo, para siraan n'yo ako hindi n'yo na iniisip kung ano na 'yung nagiging itsura ninyo sa mata ng bayan at saka mundo. Kayo na po ang pinagtatawanan, hindi po ako. Inosente po ako," De Lima said.

De Lima called her critics "cowards, fools and liars" for staging a supposed riot inside the prison.

Source: Philippine Star