Press Release
April 10, 2019

De Lima dares Paolo Duterte to show 'dragon tattoo' on his back

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has reiterated her challenge to embattled presidential son Paolo "Polong" Duterte to show his dragon tattoo on his back to dispel any lingering accusations about his alleged links with the illegal drug trade syndicates.

De Lima, the first political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said Mr. Duterte should reconsider his decision not to show to the public his dragon tattoo on his back so that he can once and for all prove his accusers wrong.

"In challenging Paolo Duterte to prove his accusers wrong via the simple expedient of showing his back tattoo, I speak partly from the perspectives of one who has been falsely accused and continues to be persecuted and demonized with lies about her alleged drug links," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 501.

"I don't want anybody else, not even any of the Dutertes, to be on the same boat, to be a victim of lies and injustices. Believe me, being falsely accused is the most painful thing. Indescribably painful. Worse than painful," she added.

Duterte was recently tagged as among the syndicate leaders who purportedly got kickbacks from the illegal drug trade in a seven-minute video entitled "Ang Totoong Narco List- Episode 1" that went viral after it was uploaded on YouTube last April 2.

The narrator in the video who identified himself as a certain "Bikoy" claimed that the dragon tattoo on Duterte's back can prove the presidential son's ties to a drug trafficking triad which is a syndicate involved in a number of criminal activities.

In the video, Bikoy, who introduced himself as a former member of a large drug syndicate, revealed the code at the upper portion of the dragon tattoo on Duterte's back is similar to one of his supposed codenames in the Tara: ALPHA TIERRA-0029.

If Duterte is on the side of truth, De Lima reiterated that it should be easy for him to publicly show his alleged tattoo. "So, again, unless he has something to hide, Polong better show the tattoo. Hindi pa naman nya siguro pinabura," she said.

The video prompted Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon to urge the Senate to reopen its probe on the PhP6.4-billion smuggling of 604 kilos of methamphetamine or shabu into the Philippines in 2017 that allegedly involved the presidential son.

A victim of political persecution under the vengeful Duterte regime, De Lima was illegally detained since Feb. 24, 2017 based on trumped-up charges that were all based primarily on perjured testimonies of convicted criminals and manufactured evidence.

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