Detained Senator Leila de Lima issued a press release on Tuesday on “Malacañang’s fallacious justification” for the abrogation of VFA.
De Lima started by pointing out how the Palace spokesman wanted the Filipinos to believe that the VFA abrogation is a matter of principle and that, “Duterte thinks it’s about time that we stand on our own and be self-reliant in our national defense and security.”
“This is a lot of bullshit,” the senator said. “Duterte’s move is dictated by his desire to ingratiate himself with China.”
“He delivered the decapitated head of the US-PH VFA to China on a silver platter as part of his strategic vision of the Philippines’ pivot to China which, Duterte behooves, is now the dominant global superpower in the region,” she continued.
De Lima also criticized China, saying, “Duterte’s global superpower” cannot even defend itself against the COVID-19 epidemic. She said China was shunned from almost every airport and port in the world.
“…its industries and manufacturing at a standstill, and its party leadership running around like a headless chicken after mishandling the response to its largest epidemic in recent memory,” De Lima added.
Also read: Duterte on De Lima’s sex scandal: ‘You saw it all’
De Lima says VFA abrogation is ‘bullsh*t’; calls Duterte like a ‘true sociopath’
She also said Duterte does not care about Philippine self-reliance or national security and sovereignty, citing how the president allowed China to build infrastructures in the West Philippine Sea.
De Lima also doubts if Duterte is really concerned with the possibility of China reclaiming the Scarborough Shoal as soon as it gets over the COVID-19 crisis.
“Duterte’s vision is to transform the Philippines into a Chinese province and outpost along the first island chain towards the Pacific,” she said.
“Duterte hardly–nay–never acts on the basis of principles. He probably does not even understand the concept, but, like a true sociopath, merely mimics the behavior of someone having them. His unilateral abrogation of the VFA is all about his self-interest and grand vision to transform this country into China’s substitute for Taiwan, which it continues to fail to occupy because of its strong national defense and alliance with the United States,” De Lima said.
She then lambasted Duterte’s ally and Senator Bato Dela Rosa for flattering himself “too much as supposedly being the cause for the VFA’s abrogation.” She said the government only used Bato’s canceled US visa as an excuse for terminating the VFA.
De Lima ended her statement by saying how Duterte loved China that he was willing to sacrifice his countrymen just to follow his “boss” in China.
Here is the senator’s full statement from the Senate of the Philippines’ website.