Press Release
July 21, 2019

De Lima wants Duterte to present true and real state of PH in 4th SONA

With Mr. Duterte's State of the Nation Address (SONA) just days away, Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed hope that he would present to the Filipino people the true and real state of the Philippines under his regime.

De Lima said Mr. Duterte should present in his fourth SONA the genuine status of the country and not resort once again to more lies and crude jokes that he has fed the Filipinos in his past three addresses.

"I want him to tell the truth this time, instead of spewing out the same lies that he has fed the Filipino people the past three years of his destructive reign," said De Lima, staunchest critic of rampant extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses under the Duterte administration.

"Huwag sanang idaan ni Mr. Duterte sa pananakot at pagpapatawa ang SONA dahil napakaraming seryosong problema ang bansa na dapat aksiyunan," added De Lima, a known defender of social justice and human rights.

According to the former justice secretary, Mr. Duterte should explain to the Filipino people how his strategy of appeasing China is protecting the country's maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea.

The lady Senator from Bicol pointed out that Mr. Duterte has repeatedly shown his loyalty to China and abandoned the interest of his own countrymen, as exemplified by the government's recent handling of the Gem-Ver ramming incident.

In addition, De Lima said Duterte must admit the deplorable results of his administration's most murderous war on drugs which has failed to address the problem but instead has led to the deaths of thousands of Filipinos.

"Dapat aminin ni Mr. Duterte sa sambayanang Pilipino na walang kinahantungan ang kanyang giyera kontra droga kundi pagdanak ng dugo ng kanyang mga kababayan, kabilang na ang tatlong taon anyos na si Myca," she said.

Myca Ulpina was killed in a shootout after he was purportedly used as human shield by her father who was evading arrest following a buy-bust operation in Rizal last June 30.

De Lima said she also wants Mr. Duterte to acknowledge to the nation that his anti-corruption drive is a huge failure, given his enormous support to personalities involved in corruption and plunder issues who returned to power under his watch.

Touted as the most prominent political prisoner under the present administration, De Lima has always maintained her innocence from all the trumped-up charges concocted by the Duterte regime in an effort to silence her vocal opposition to the abuses and rampant extrajudicial killings in the country.

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