‘CHANGE OF HEART’

De Lima on Gordon’s inclusion in Leni’s senatorial slate: I didn’t object

Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Friday welcomed the inclusion of Senator Richard Gordon in the senatorial slate of Vice President Leni Robredo, the standard bearer of the opposition.

According to De Lima, she did not intend to object to the inclusion of Gordon in the slate even though the latter had "played a role in her persecution" in the previous Senate hearings about drug war killings.

Gordon was among those who voted to oust De Lima as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights after launching an inquiry into the drug war killings under the Duterte administration and even during President Rodrigo Duterte's term as Davao City mayor.

"I did not object to Sen. Gordon's inclusion and I do not intend to do so. I perceive a change of heart and regret of the past when he chastised Duterte recently for imprisoning 'a senator elected by the people,'" De Lima said in a statement.

"I also recognize and fully appreciate Sen. Gordon's courageous conduct in the face of Duterte's weekly personal attacks on him, now that he is the one who is speaking against Duterte, in defiance of the latter's wishes that the Blue Ribbon committee shut down the Pharmally hearings," she added.

Gordon is at the receiving end of Duterte's criticisms of the Senate's investigation over the controversial purchase of COVID-19 items last year.

For De Lima, Gordon "has gotten a taste of Duterte's venom and viciousness, a fraction of what was done to me four years ago."

"He currently experiences similar character assassination and mindless demolition of reputation that I did in the hands of Duterte. Come to think of it now, we are a small and exclusive club," the senator said.

"We should stick together and help each other until this person who so dishonored us is held to account, and punished, for his excesses," she added.

De Lima, a staunch critic of the present administration, believes that there is a greater battle that needs to be faced, which is bigger than her personal struggles brought by those who wronged her in the past.

"If people can change and regret the wrong that they did to me, the least I can do is to put my hurt feelings behind for the sake of uniting against and defeating the evil who is Duterte and his anointed lackey who threatens to continue his kind of malevolent regime beyond 2022," De Lima, who is detained over drug-related charges, said.

De Lima said she could find a common ground with Gordon in making Duterte learn about the power of truth as well as the consequences of supposedly betraying Filipinos.

Aside from Gordon and de Lima, those part of Robredo's senatorial slate are:

• Senator Joel Villanueva
• Senator Miguel Zubiri
• Senator Risa Hontiveros
• former Vice President Jejomar Binay
• Former Representative Teddy Baguilat
• Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero
• Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV
• human rights lawyer Chel Diokno
• Alex Lacson of Kapatiran

— RSJ, GMA News