De Lima: VP Sara’s ‘bloodbath’ remark ‘toxic rhetoric’

There will be no "bloodbath" during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, incoming party-list representative Leila De Lima said Sunday.

Her statement was in response to Duterte's pronouncement that she is looking forward to her impeachment trial in the upcoming 20th Congress because she “wants a bloodbath.”

“In an impeachment trial, the only one who is on trial is the person impeached. So there can be no bloodbath. If any blood is spilled, it can only be that of the person impeached, not the prosecutors', not the senators-judges', not the administration's, not the people's. We will make sure of that,” De Lima said.

She added that Duterte’s camp is good at “braggadocio, mindless arrogance, toxic rhetoric, violence.”

“VP Sara is always welcome to witness how her trial will be a serious affair where her rights are respected and the proceedings fair, devoid of the drama and chaos that she is asking her defense team to orchestrate,” she added.

“To stress, an impeachment trial is not a show of brute force but a sacrosanct constitutional process of accountability. No room for chaos, drama, and theatrics that Sara asked her defense team to orchestrate. Contempt ang naghihintay sa kanila [is awaiting them] if they even dare to,” she added.

Duterte’s impeachment will begin on July 30.

In February, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte over issues including the use of confidential funds; alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City; and her saying that she had contracted someone to assassinate President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. if she were to be killed. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BM, GMA Integrated News