De Lima vows to fight Duterte’s “vigilantism”

CEBU, Philippines - Liberal Party senatorial candidate Leila de Lima said it is best for presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte to help improve the criminal justice in the country instead of vigilantism.

“Tumulong na lang siya kung paano mapa-improve ang criminal justice system at kung paano ito mapalakas at maging buo at seamless yung flow sa pillars ng criminal justice system para tuluyan ng ma-improve,” she said.

“Sana tumulong siya doon. Huwag na niyang ipilit yan,” said De Lima, who visited The FREEMAN yesterday, referring to vigilantism.

“Dati ko ng sinasabi that if I have to spend the rest of my life just fighting him for what he stands for in relation to his approach to criminality I will do that. Nothing personal at all. It is just that. Hindi talaga ako puwede sumang-ayon,” said de Lima.

She said that it saddens her that despite Duterte’s approach towards criminal justice many people idolized him.

“Ang nakakalungkot because sumisikat siya at maraming umiidolo sa kanya dahil doon. So ibig sabihin, a significant portion of our populace ay ini-embrace ang ganyang mind set. What kind of society is that? Labag sa batas,” De Lima said.

She, however, recognized that the people’s attraction to Duterte was born out of frustration and desperation over our justice system.

“But there are other ways to fix the justice system. There are other ways para mapaganda ang justice system natin na maiwasan ang ganyang vigilantism,” she said.

She was also not amenable to the restoration of the death penalty because of some “flaws” in our justice system, saying that under the current situation only the poor get hanged because they could not afford good lawyers to defend their innocence.

Meanwhile, she revealed that the so-called “Davao Death Squad” is still under investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation, as it is already established that it really exist and was involved in the killing of petty criminals.

Duterte earlier admitted killing three criminals, but De Lima said a witness and solid proof have to be presented to pin Duterte down.

“That may be taken against him pero kulang pa yan (evidence). He can always say nagyayabang lang. He can always say that,” she said.  (FREEMAN)