Nancy Binay commiserates over 'below the belt' attacks on De Lima

Senator Nancy Binay on Tuesday said she commiserates with her colleague Leila de Lima, who has become the target of President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades. 

Binay said some of the attacks against the embattled senator have become personal and “below the belt.” 

“‘Yung iba naman below the belt. Kung tutuusin, ano ba pakialam natin sa love life niya?” Binay told reporters. 

De Lima is alleged to have received drug payoffs during her term as Justice secretary, with her former driver and supposed lover, Ronnie Dayan, collecting the money on her behalf. 

Duterte himself revealed De Lima’s alleged relationship with Dayan, and insisted on the existence of a sex video of the two. 

Senator Binay said she knows what De Lima was going through, saying her family had been on the receiving end of similar persecution in the past. 

“After niya mag-privilege speech, nilapitan ko siya. Sinabihan ko siya na lilipas din ‘yan based from our experience diba?” Binay said. 

Last week, De Lima delivered a speech during the plenary session to defend herself against accusations of being biased in handling the Senate probe on drug-related killings, among others. 

De Lima was ousted as chair of the Senate justice committee handling the investigation, and Binay was one of the 16 senators who voted in favor of the motion. 

Senator Binay and her family had earlier cried political persecution when her father, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, the subject of investigation in the Senate for alleged corruption during his term as city mayor of Makati. 

The elder Binay was then the frontrunner in polls ahead of the presidential elections, which Duterte eventually won. 

Binay ranked only fourth in the final tally. —JST, GMA News