Senator Leila de Lima is the latest victim in the series of name-and-shame campaign conducted by President Rodrigo Duterte as he revealed her to be the government official he was planning to “destroy” in public, first off by calling her “immoral,” and the netizens reacted.
Someone tweeted an earlier Philippine Daily Inquirer headline that said, “Duterte: I have 2 wives and 2 girlfriends,” and captioned it, as if it was from de Lima’s point of view, “HELLO, look who’s talking?!”
Another Twitter user has the same sentiment.
Some Twitter users pointed how ironic it was for Duterte to label someone as “immoral” and “adulterer” when he himself could be accused of the same things. “He must be talking about himself,” according to one Twitter user.
Another Twitter user jokingly asked, “On a scale of ‘De Lima immoral’ to ‘Duterte immoral,’ how immoral are you?”
As for Duterte’s earlier claims about having “been with many girls,” he pointed out how people commended the President, saying that he was just being honest. But now that a woman like de Lima was accused of having an affair, he was aghast at how the idea was “suddenly immoral again,” pointing out the double standard treatment of the issue.
While Duterte’s supporters were quite fervent in cheering the President on for slamming de Lima, these two Facebook users pointed out it was a “low blow” and un-gentlemanly of Duterte to do so and how he should consider that he is the President, “not just a tambay in the street.”
Duterte first slammed a ‘female senator’ at the 115th police service anniversary at Camp Crame on Wednesday, August 17.
“Here’s a senator complaining. One day I will tell you that her driver himself, who was a lover, was the one collecting money for her during the campaign. An immoral woman, insofar as the driver’s wife is concerned, it’s adultery,” he said.
“Here’s a woman who funded a house of a lover and yet we don’t see any complaint about it,” he added.
On the same day, at a news briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, he was asked if he could name the female senator he scored earlier and he replied: “I can. Because it’s part of my duty. Okay naman ako. You want to know the name? De Lima.”
De Lima reacted to Duterte’s calling her “immoral” as “very foul” and “a clear case of character assassination. She added that she never expected this from the President, seeing as how they are both professionals and public servants. But even this, de Lima said, won’t stop her from pursuing the Senate probe on extrajudicial killings in the government’s war against drugs.
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Duterte’s ‘philandering’ reason for his marriage annulment
Aside from Duterte’s claims and jokes about having been involved with many girls, his being a ‘womanizer’ was the reason why the Pasig Regional Court nullified his 27-year marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman, the mother of his three older kids – Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo, Davao City Mayor Sara, and Sebastian Duterte.
Elizabeth filed for annulment in 1998 and the court ruled in her favor two years later.
Rappler wrote a report based on court documents sent to their office by an anonymous source, which they later checked and verified, finding them to be authentic court records.
The records showed that Elizabeth suffered from “emotional abuse” from Duterte, whom she described as a “womanizer” with frequent “outbursts of temper.”
The hearing transcript showed her saying, “He flaunts [his women]… I heard of several women whom he brought to parties, to functions where he introduced [them] as Mrs. Duterte… He even brought them to meetings and political rallies.”
Elizabeth also narrated about one of Duterte’s girlfriends confronting her. She said the girl “told me her affair with my husband direct to my face…”
Duterte has had issues involving women before, such as catcalling a female GMA reporter, joking about the rape of an Australian missionary in Davao, and even calling his daughter Sara a ‘drama queen,’ not believing her after she claimed to be a rape victim too.
Sources: (newsinfo.inquirer.net, rappler.com, gmanetwork.com)
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