Duterte slams ‘naive’ EU for pushing for De Lima’s release

The European Parliament received fresh tirades from President Rodrigo Duterte as he described them naive for pushing for the release of detained Senator Leila de Lima.

“I’m being castigated by the EU (European Union). Ito namang EU for their naiveté, I pity those guys,” Duterte said in a speech at the People’s Day celebration in Socorro, Oriental Mindoro on Wednesday.

“Without offending those guys—itong mga puti, mga bugok talaga (these white people are rotten). Terrible,” he added.

But Duterte was quick to clarify that he was referring to the members of the European Parliament when he noticed that there were Caucasians in the audience.

The President slammed the EU for calling De Lima a “political prisoner.”

“There is a lady here. Kayo ba naniniwala na political prisoner si De Lima? Pinapa-release ng EU kasi political prisoner daw (Do you believe De Lima is a political prisoner? EU wants her released because they said she’s a political prisoner),” he said.

De Lima is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame for drug charges.

“Itong si De Leila political prisoner. Ilan na ang lalaki. Ngayon na nasa kulungan siya, ayaw aminin… Nagpadala pa siya ng trailer in advance. Nakita na ng buong mundo,” Duterte said.

(This De Lima, a political prisoner. How many men did she have? Now that she’s in jail, she doesn’t want to admit… She even sent a trailer in advance which the whole world saw.)

“Doon sa EU, ako pa ang kontrabida (In EU, I’m the villain),” he said.

“Anak ng—tapos ako pa tuloy ang ipakulong. Buang. P— ina itong (They want me jailed. Crazy),” he added.

He hit back on the criticisms that he killed thousands of people.

“That’s too much,” he said.

The EU Parliament earlier issued a joint motion calling for the release of De Lima whom they described as “a human rights advocate and the highest profile critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.” JE