Senator Leila de Lima on Friday scoffed at Sen. Manny Pacquiao for his apparent double standard on what testimony and evidence should be given credence by the Senate just to protect presidential son, Pulong Duterte, from intenses questioning by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“Pacquiao went on the record to say two things: one, when someone says ‘sabi nila sa akin’, that is not sufficient evidence to adjudge a person guilty and two, ‘hindi porke may picture ang isang public figure kasama ang isang tao, ay ibig sabihin kasama na sya sa transaction ng taong iyon,” said de Lima.
De Lima said that if Pacquiao used the same standards in her illegal drugs case, the testimony and evidence made by convicts and drug lords against her would have been thrown out the window.
“Those are exactly the kind of trash ‘evidence’ that the cases against me are based on, from the mouths of convicted felons pa, with an axe to grind and everything to gain from currying favor from the current administration that is so gung-ho on persecuting me. So is there any cause for me to expect the honorable Manny Pacquiao to demand that hearsay evidence against me be ‘taken back’ and stricken out as well?” De Lima asked.
De Lima, who is currently detained due to her alleged drug links, felt vindicated when Pacquiao pointed out what she has been saying all along.
“(He said) ‘Hindi porke may picture, kasama ka na sa transaction nila’. How I wish you uttered the same thing about the supposed photo of mine with Kerwin Espinosa, a total stranger to me,” she said.
She was referring to the photo taken with Espinos in Baguio City when she was campaigning then for her senatorial bid. The selfie with Espinosa was used to pin her down on allegations that she received drug money from the latter in millions of pesos to add to her campaign kitty.
“A single, impersonal photo would not have the same weight and does not tell a story in the same way as a series of multiple photos that depict the subjects like those in the case of (Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo) Polong (Duterte), Charlie Tan, Kenneth Dong and “Small” (Nilo Abellera) being playful and familiar with each other,” she said.
During Thursday’s hearing by the Senate blue ribbon committee on corruption in Bureau of Customs (BOC), Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV made a slide presentation on the photos of the presidential son with alleged known drug smugglers who are being linked in the shipment of the P6.4-billion shabu from China.
Duterte vehemently denied being behind the so-called Davao Group alleged to have help facilitate the said shipment.
“Sa dami ng litrato, at mukhang naghaharutan pa, there is cause to delve deeper into the plausibility of Trillanes’ theory that these men are known to and are, in fact, very familiar with one another, more than just drinking buddies,” she said.
