Senator Leila De Lima
INQUIRER file photo/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
It all started with a joke.
The word war between Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and detained Senator Leila de Lima has reached new heights on Thursday, reigniting the animosity between the two personalities known for their track record in human rights advocacy.
The verbal tussle was prompted by a snide remark by no less than De Lima鈥檚 nemesis, President Rodrigo Duterte, two days after she thanked Pope Francis for his 鈥渂eautiful鈥� gift.
Without mentioning the detained senator鈥檚 name in a speech on Tuesday, Duterte scoffed at Pope Francis鈥� giving of rosary to De Lima, 鈥渏oking鈥� that he would show the Pontiff her alleged sex video.
鈥淣agpahambog na bigyan ng rosary ni Pope. Sus si Pope naman uy. Kaya sabi ko, hanapan mo nga ako ng video nung ano, ipakita ko kay Pope,鈥� he said.
(This one bragged about the rosary from the Pope. Oh this Pope. That鈥檚 why I said, go find me the video, I鈥檒l show it to the Pope.)
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a joke, aabot ng ano 鈥榶an (it might get to them). I am joking Pope. But that鈥檚 ano鈥攚henever you do a thing it鈥檚 just open to鈥� You know if you criticize me, I can criticize you ten times over,鈥� he added.
A day later, Roque backed his boss and came out with a statement that the Pontiff 鈥渄oes not know [the] true nature of [De Lima鈥檚] character.鈥�
And early Thursday afternoon, De Lima lashed out at the spokesperson and called him 鈥済rossly un-Christian鈥� for his remarks. She said he does not know her person and ordered him to stop 鈥渂labbing鈥� about her 鈥渢rue character.鈥�
Not even three hours after De Lima issued her statement, Roque quickly hit back at the senator, saying nothing was more 鈥渦n-Christian鈥� than her drug cases and 鈥渄emeanor鈥� that were unbecoming of a public official.
All these were but a part of the longstanding bad blood between Roque and De Lima, which has begun last year during the height of the Congress鈥� investigation on the Bilibid drug trade under the senator鈥檚 watch as the Justice Secretary.
Roque, then the representative of Kabayan Party-list, was one of the lawmakers who zeroed in on De Lima鈥檚 affair with her aide, Ronnie Dayan. He has drawn criticisms for his 鈥渋ndecent鈥� questioning and 鈥渄ishonorable behavior,鈥� even from his own party.
When Malaca帽ang announced Roque鈥檚 appointment as the new spokesperson early November, De Lima called him as a 鈥渢ruth-bender for hire,鈥� and a 鈥済reat disappointment鈥� to the human rights movement.
鈥淗e proved to be a great disappointment to the human rights movement because, previously, he projected himself to be the defender of the oppressed, even lawyering for high publicity cases about abused women, yet he said things that no true human rights advocate would make about another person,鈥� the senator said in a statement.