Philippines Vice President and Leader of the Liberal Party Leni Robredo shrugged off the threat of Congress Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to file an impeachment complaint against her in the aftermath of her video message to an event co-sponsored by Liberal International at the 60th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNCND) in Vienna.
In the video, Robredo criticized the human rights abuses committed in the country in connection with the government’s war against illegal drugs. Robredo also insisted the statement she gave to the UN was factual as these are based on reports reaching her office. She said that the data on the war on drugs were ignored by the Philippine National Police and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, adding: “We don’t know where to go. The people are asking for protection, they are asking for help. We cannot just ignore them.”
The Liberal Party, LI full members, through its president Sen. Francis Pangilinan, also slammed threats to impeach Robredo, saying accusations linking her to alleged destabilization attempts against the Duterte administration are “baseless and orchestrated lies that only harm the country.” Pangilinan said:
The President’s allies should take this cue from him and refrain from sowing lies, as this is infecting the nation instead of uniting us.
LP President recalled that the same happened to Sen. Leila de Lima, who is also from the LP and a vocal critic of Duterte, before she was arrested and detained on what he said were trumped-up drug charges. He called on the Presidents allies to focus
on the gargantuan tasks of delivering on its campaign promises such as ‘endo’ and create jobs, finish the traffic nightmare and ease commuters’ lives, and stop corruption and move the country forward, among others.
De Lima meanwhile described the impeachment threat as “arrogance of power.” In a handwritten statement from the custodial center at Camp Crame where she is detained, De Lima said:
Those who cannot understand that those who stifle basic freedoms, those who promote and condone the non-stop EJKs (extrajudicial killings), and those who propagate lies and fake news, fabricate evidence and coerce or induce false testimonies are the real traitors, betrayers of public trust.
Liberal International has been a target of a massive orchestrated verbal attacks online in the aftermath of its vocal defence of the work of Sen. De Lima and Vice President Robredo.
