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“Yung prinsipyo mo baluktot, rotten (Your principles are rotten).”
This is the reply of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima after the latter said she does not want the mayor in a Liberal Party ticket if he decides to seek higher office.
De Lima and Duterte have been engaged in a word war since 2009 when de Lima, then human rights commissioner, investigated him for his alleged involvement with the Davao Death Squad.
The justice chief also said a self-confessed DDS “hitman” has come forward to testify about the death squad.
Since then, their ideas and principles on certain issues would always clash to the point that they have become enemies.
De Lima earlier told ANC that she has no qualms about campaigning in Davao City if she decides to run for senator. However, she said she does not want Duterte in the LP ticket.
“[If he is part of LP slate, can you take that?] No. It cannot be at the expense of my principles. I stand by my principles always,” she said.
Duterte has criticized de Lima for the illegal activities happening inside the New Bilibid Prison as well as her decision to block former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from leaving the country in 2011.
Asked about de Lima’s statement that she will not run with Duterte, the mayor said: “She said it is against her principles to be in a ticket with me. So now, good. Now we know that you have principles, but the problem is, your principles are rotten.”
Duterte said he is not running for president and would bid goodbye to Mar Roxas, presumptive standard-bearer of the LP, if De Lima is included in the LP senatorial lineup. —from a report by Hernel Tocmo, ABS-CBN News Davao
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
