DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte challenged Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to file charges against him, and he will make sure that he will file charges as well on crimes the Justice secretary did.
“Ipatestify na. Okay lang as long as dili sila mag-fabricate ug evidence. Sige ipakita na, kay naa pud koy ipakita nga ebidensya nila, then we’ll start to file charges also kay sila wala makasala? Unsa man diay sila (Let her testify in court. I’ll face any case for as long as they do not fabricate evidence. Let them show their evidence because I also have evidence against them. Then we will file charges against each other because they too have crimes to answer for. Let’s see what they have),” Duterte said.
He said the first thing he would do should de Lima file a case against him is to file a kidnapping case against the DOJ chief for the illegal arrest of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel, and the Muntinlupa fiasco where wealthy prisoners were allowed to live in luxury.
“Sinong nag-utos sa iyo na harangin si Arroyo even without a court warrant? Anong klaseng procedure yun? Where is the due process there? I will file the case on my own as complainant. I will compel the presence of Arroyo and the husband by subpoena,” Duterte said.
He said authorities committed a public crime.
“Kidnapping yun e, harap-harapan. Wala namang martial law. Just because PNy joined the election, you go out rampaging and arresting people without sabi niya due process of law,” Duterte said.
Incidentally, before his long stint in politics, Duterte was a public prosecutor whose specialization was in criminal law, defending both uniformed men and rebels.
“Ipairal natin ang batas, I am a Filipino offended by what she did. I can file the case, she wants me, marami naman tayong abogado. I am ready to file it in my own capacity as a citizen of this republic, its kidnapping, hindi na yan arbitrary detention, kasi kidnapping talaga, walang authority, wala lahat. Ang arbitrary detention is you arrest a person without illegal ground. Pero ito, you force a person from leaving the country and talagang pinwersa mo, kinarga mo doon,” Duterte added.
Duterte also said that he would demand the Ombudsman to investigate why she took so long in taking action in the Muntinlupa fiasco, as he considers it as a dereliction of duty.
He said running for the Senate will not even work for de Lima, challenging the Justice secretary to do so.