Solicitor General Jose Calida launches new tirade against Sen. De Lima, calls her "diva of drugs." @gmanews pic.twitter.com/SkzRECbwCd
— Virgil Lopez (@virgillopez) December 21, 2016
Sol-Gen dares De Lima to quit if her bar scores are lower than his; solon says it’s foolish
Solicitor General Jose Calida has stepped up his verbal attacks on Senator Leila De Lima whom he once called “public enemy number one” for her alleged role in the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison.
On Wednesday, Calida challenged De Lima to reveal each other’s score in criminal law in the bar examinations.
“I hereby put a challenge to De Lima. She accused me that I have an empty skull. She was a former secretary of justice. I challenge her to reveal her grade in criminal law during the Bar exam,” Calida told reporters.
“If her grade is higher than mine, I will resign as Solicitor General. But if my grade is higher than hers, she should resign as Senator of the Philippines,” Calida told reporters at the Department of Justice.
Calida, who is representing two of the four complainants, received a 100 percent rating in criminal law in the 1973 Bar Examinations, according to his profile posted on the website of the Office of Solicitor General.
De Lima, on the other hand, placed eighth in the 1985 Bar Examinations.
Calida made the dare after De Lima gave a stinging response to the government lawyer’s tirade on Monday when he called her high priestess of hyprocrisy,” “patron saint of narco-politics” and “public enemy number one.”
The senator said Calida’s statements “are only expected to echo (President Rodrigo Duterte’s) insanity, the same way his crazy ideas are simply echoed inside the empty skull of his fanatic followers.”
“So I would not put it beyond them to attack voices of reason and call their enemies names. These people are already out of their minds and can be regarded as mentally sick themselves,” she said.
“As such, I’d rather not dignify yet another act of on the part of those evil minds. They’re as unhinged as their principal,” De Lima added.
Calida defended calling De Lima as “public enemy number one,” saying she was responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs in the national penitentiary during her term as justice secretary.
“And I have a new epithet for her. She is now the diva of drugs in this country,” the solicitor general said.
De Lima dismissed Calida’s dare regarding their bar scores, calling it a “foolish challenge.”
“What a foolish challenge! He should resign on account of his lunacy!” the senator said in a statement.
“Kawawa talaga ang bansa natin ngayon. We have a President who has a stable of loonies and shady characters as his diehard enforcers.” —NB, GMA News
