De Lima: Handshake with Duterte shows 'walang personalan' despite criticisms

Senator Leila de Lima believes President Rodrigo Duterte tried to dispel rumors that they were mortal enemies when the latter approached and shook her hand on his way to the podium to deliver his first State of the Nation Address.

“I take it (his gesture) positively, in the sense na it could be a warm, friendly gesture, sort of an icebreaker. He tried to dispel some notion that we are mortal enemies,” De Lima told reporters.

She noted that amid their exchange of words in the past about Duterte’s alleged connection with the Davao Death Squad and human rights violations, she has never criticized the former mayor on a personal level.

“Sa aking panig, alam ko naman na hindi ko sya pinepersonal at never ko syang pinepersonal. So siguro ganun din sya. By that gesture, he was able to show also na hindi nya ako pine-personal kahit na hindi kami nagkakasundo sa ilang mga seryosong bagay,” she said.

De Lima believed the President knows that she is just doing her job.

“I think we just also wanted to show to the people na kahit na nagkaka diperensya kami on certain issues, it’s a matter of principle also, I have my own beliefs, I have my own advocacies, he has his own principles, beliefs, and advocacies for governance pero walang personalan,” she said.

The senator said some of their schoolmates have expressed concern of their perceived rift. Duterte and De Lima are both alumni of San Beda College of Law.

“There are some schoolmates that kind of expressed certain concern, bakit daw pareho kaming Bedans and yet ang tingin sa amin ay talagang magkaaway kami. But these fellow Bedans know that we’re really not that.” she said.

“Ganun lang, yun lang ang nagiging impression ng karamihan na I’m supposed to be his nemesis, and then that’s it na sobra kaming magkaaway, That’s the common impression but the fellow Bedans know that that’s not the case,” she added. —JST, GMA News