"I'm willing to resign. I'm willing to be shot in front of the President - De lima

MANILA - Senator Leila de Lima said Saturday she was "willing to be shot" if President Rodrigo Duterte's allegations linking her to the illegal drug trade are proven.

De Lima said she received information that some people were seeking statements from drug convicts at the national penitentiary to corroborate the President's allegation that her driver had asked them for money when she was campaigning for the Senate.

Duterte claimed De Lima and her driver were having an "illicit affair." The Senator said the President's attacks showed an "abuse and misuse of executive power and warned that her fate could befall anyone who opposes the tough-talking leader.

"I'm willing to resign. I'm willing to be shot in front of the President kung may tunay o totoo na ebidensya na hindi imbento [if there is credible evidence that is not manufactured]," De Lima told reporters.

De Lima will lead a Senate investigation into the hundreds of deaths linked to Duterte's war on drugs next week.

Duterte, De Lima said, should stop attacking her or risk getting embarrassed over "false, bogus, manufactured, fabricated, perjured" evidence.

"Ayaw ko na mapahiya kayo [I don't want you to get embarrassed]. Not now, perhaps later," she said.

De Lima said Duterte had been fixated on her for her investigation on vigilante "death squads" in Davao City as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. Duterte was then mayor of the southern metropolis.

She said she was unsure if the President's recent statements about here were mere jokes. "Di ko alam kung biro ang killing me softly na yan [I don't know what Killing Me Softly means]," she said.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, Duterte said he had evidence against De Lima's alleged misdeeds, then hummed a verse from the Roberta Flack song, "Killing Me Softly."

De Lima said she last spoke with her driver, Ronnie Dayan, three or four weeks ago. Dayan told her that he was told by police to "lie low."

She appealed to authorities to leave Dayan alone, for the sake of his family.

source:abscbnnews