Roque to De Lima: "May you spend the rest of your life in jail"
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque wished on Tuesday that detained Senator Leila de Lima would be imprisoned for life.
He made the statement after De Lima accused Roque of "bartering" his dignity and reputation as a human rights lawyer, "in exchange for a senatorial berth" in President Rodrigo Duterte's PDP-Laban political party.
"As I said, happy anniversary on your first year of detention. May you spend the rest of your life in jail," Roque said in a press briefing.
De Lima, who has been detained in Camp Crame for one year on illegal drug charges, said there was nothing wrong for Roque to aspire of becoming a senator.
"There is nothing wrong with that per se. But just because he has bartered his dignity and reputation as a human rights lawyer, in exchange for a senatorial berth in the President’s party, it doesn’t mean that everyone are willing to go down that path," de Lima said.
"I, for one, did not go down that path. I value my dignity and independence more than that," she added.
De Lima has been detained for allegedly violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
She was accused of receiving money from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was still the secretary of the Department of Justice under the Aquino administration.
The Liberal Party senator denied all the allegations, saying she has been in detention "not because I am the 'mother of all drug lords'?ha! -- but because Duterte feared being held accountable for the bloodshed he had brought down with his war on drugs, and he?and his allies who have been at the wrong end of a DOJ (Department of Justice) investigation while I was SOJ ( Secretary of Justice)?have been frothing at the mouth to get even." Celerina Monte/DMS
