MANILA, Philippines — Claiming there were signs that the chief executive was allegedly already losing his sanity, Sen. Leila de Lima on Friday urged members of the Duterte Cabinet to “seriously start looking closely at the President’s state of mind, and take action within the purview of the Constitution.”
“He is losing it,” the detained lawmaker said in a statement, referring to her nemesis, President Rodrigo Duterte.
“What should catch everyone’s attention is the progressively demented behavior he (Duterte) is exhibiting: poor judgment, loss of empathy, socially inappropriate behavior, intensified vulgarity, lack of inhibition, inability to concentrate on the real issues, among others,” she said.
According to De Lima, “these are all manifestations that are readily observable by anyone who has seen him and heard him speak and rant.”
The senator said that instead of just cooperating with the Office of the Ombudsman in its investigation “if he truly wants to prove he is not a plundering thief,” Duterte chose to threaten Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales with impeachment and also challenged her and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to resign with him.
“He next went after the Overall Deputy Ombudsman (Melchor Arthur Carandang) like a rabid dog that has gone full madness mode. He didn’t just threaten Carandang with legal action, he also explicitly threatened him with bodily harm. Imagine Donald Trump telling Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller to start praying (‘magdasal ka lang, Carandang’) because he would take him out first’ (‘uunahin kita‘),” said De Lima.
“And Mr. Duterte didn’t stop there, he went on to make claims that no sane President, especially one who studied law and is still in full possession of his faculties, would make,” the lawmaker said.
“He claimed that he (could) summon the Deputy Ombudsman because the latter committed a crime by looking into the allegations against him, that is by doing his job. Mr. Duterte also claimed that he (could) ‘go there and bring (Carandang) to the NBI.’ He also said that Carandang must obey him,” added De Lima.
