Karapatan on proposals to show alleged de Lima videos

The proposal to present alleged intimate videos of Sen. Leila de Lima in Congress serves no legitimate purpose in the investigation, is in bad taste and an insult to the general public and the truly honorable members of the Lower House. It will be an attempt at a pornographic show that will not establish accountability in the illegal drug trade and related issues such as drug-related killings. 
 

The proposal to present alleged intimate videos of Sen. Leila de Lima in Congress serves no legitimate purpose in the investigation, is in bad taste and an insult to the general public and the truly honorable members of the Lower House. It will be an attempt at a pornographic show that will not establish accountability in the illegal drug trade and related issues such as drug-related killings. 
 
We call on the members of the House of Representatives to stop this overkill attacks against Sen. De Lima. Muddling the issue through the alleged video may be part of a bigger cover-up to spare other government officials involved in the illegal drug business. It wastes the public’s money and resources, undermining, instead of upholding, the people’s interest in arriving at the truth. 
 
Recent investigations on the illegal drug trade, and correspondingly, of the alleged killings related to the government’s war against drugs, are found wanting because they are becoming a political circus by a few zealous legislators who have lost track of the boundaries of a truly legal process of investigation. As such no justice for the victims of both the illegal drug trade and drug-related killings can be achieved. The root causes of these social problems will remain unsolved. 
 
Instead of viewing the alleged intimate videos of de Lima, Congress should give the utmost priority to measures ending contractualization, enacting legislation for living wages of workers and genuine agrarian reform for peasants, repealing VAT and other regressive tax measures, and other issues that will redound to social and economic benefits for the people.