Roque to De Lima: “As I said, happy anniversary on your first year of detention. May you spend the rest of your life in jail”

Four days after greeting Senator Leila de Lima on her first year in jail, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday wished the detained lawmaker to spend the rest of her life in jail.

“As I said, happy anniversary on your first year of detention. May you spend the rest of your life in jail,” Roque said in a news briefing.

Roque made this reaction after De Lima issued a statement saying Roque has bartered his reputation and dignity for political gain.

“I really do feel sorry for Harry Roque. He used to have some semblance of credibility. He held himself out as a defender of the oppressed; a human rights lawyer. Now, it seems he has sold his own identity in exchange for a possible Senate run,” De Lima said in a dispatch written on Monday.

“Mr. Roque, I understand, aspires to one day call himself a Senator. There is nothing wrong with that per se. But just because he has bartered his dignity and reputation as a human rights lawyer, in exchange for a senatorial berth in the President’s party, it doesn’t mean that everyone are willing to go down that path.”

De Lima is facing charges on illegal drugs and had been detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame since Feb. 24, 2017.

Harry Roque said De Lima is “a living symbol that the Philippines has become a narco-state with her election in office funded by drugs.”

“Senator De Lima’s incarceration shows that the criminal justice system in the Philippines is alive, effective and working.”

“Senator De Lima has been detained because of drug charges. She is the mother of all drug lords by allowing the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the National Bilibid Prison when she was the Department of Justice Secretary,” he added.

De Lima had denied involvement in illegal drug trades.