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Senator Leila de Lima will be spending her 58th birthday in detention for the first time on August 27, and said she could think of only two birthday wishes—one involved President Rodrigo Duterte and the other was a personal one.
De Lima, who will be turning 58 years old on Sunday, said she had asked the President to stop hurling allegations against her, saying it seemed he was “bent on destroying her at all cost.”
“My vindication to come soon, that’s my birthday wish,” De Lima said in an ambush interview after attending a hearing at the Muntinlupa regional trial court on Friday.
The senator said instead on focusing on her, the President should prioritize his other tasks.
“My number one birthday wish, sana po tigilan na ako ng Pangulo. Sana he puts an end to this soon to this madness. Hindi ko po ito hinihingi para sa sarili ko. This is not for my own sake. For the sake of my family, for the sake of the President himself and for the sake of the country kasi ang feeling ko po diyan sa mga sunod-sunod na tirada sa akin, no letup, para bagang wala na siyang ibang ginagawa kundi kumalap ng mga tsismis,” De Lima said in a press conference.
She said the government’s drive against illegal drugs had been transformed into a “war versus De Lima.”
“Ito na ba ang pinupuntahan ng war on drugs? Parang napupunta na sa war versus De Lima. Of course, it’s a hyperbolic statement but you cannot blame me for saying that,” the senator said.
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According to her interview last year on her 58th birthday, her other wish involves her now controversial love life.
The senator, who has revealed that she is not seeing anyone lately, said she hoped to have someone who could share her burden of being the President’s favorite whipping boy.
“Wala po akong boyfriend ngayon. Wala po akong love life ngayon. This brings me to my second wish. You may laugh if you want to but my second wish is sana meron akong love life ngayon para meron akong kabalikat at partner na sasamahan ako sa dinadaanan ko,” she said.
De Lima, a former Justice secretary and Human Rights commissioner, is one of the staunchest critics of President Duterte, particularly his brutal war against drugs that had reportedly claimed the lives of over 12,000 people since he took office July last year.
Also in the interview, the senator chided Duterte anew after the latter admitted he was mistaken when he claimed in his campaign that he could solve the country’s drug problem within three to six months after his election.
Turning emotional, the senator said she had had to shield her family from all the controversies she had been facing.
“Hindi biro itong pinagdaraanan ko eh. I’m bearing with all of this on my own because as much as possible, I don’t want to involve my family,” De Lima said.
Duterte had called De Lima an “immoral” woman for her supposed relationship with her former driver, who allegedly collected money for the senator from convicted drug lords at the national penitentiary.
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Source: Inquirer
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