Bad blood continues: Cayetano, De Lima trade verbal barbs anew

March 14, 2025 | 6:14pm

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly nine years after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and former senator Leila de Lima first clashed in the Senate, the two are once again at odds—this time over Cayetano’s shifting stance on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

The Philippine government recently handed over Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC), acting on a red notice from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Cayetano was one of Duterte’s staunchest allies, running as his vice president in the 2016 national elections. After losing, he was appointed foreign affairs secretary but previously served as a senator. During his time in the Senate, Cayetano repeatedly attacked De Lima for her criticism of Duterte's anti-drug campaign, including its links to extrajudicial killings.

Now, years later, De Lima is calling out Cayetano for softening his stance. Following Duterte’s arrest, Cayetano urged for due process and fairness for the former president.

"Napaka-importante na 'yung ating system of laws. Lahat po ng judicial process, lahat po ng remedies under the law, ma-accord sa ating pangulo," Cayetano said.

(The system of laws is important. All of the judicial process, all of the remedies under the law should be accorded to the president.) 

But De Lima was having none of it.

After being jailed for nearly seven years under Duterte’s administration on what she called trumped-up drug charges—only to be acquitted after his term—De Lima slammed Cayetano for suddenly championing human rights and due process now that Duterte is on trial.

In a video posted on social media, a fiery De Lima did not hold back.

“Let’s not change history. You were not just a bystander during Duterte’s drug war, You were one of his loudest defenders. You are one of the first who ruined by name. You are the first to label me as a drug lord without any evidence,” De Lima said. 

“You stood by Duterte, not as a critic behind closed doors, but as an enabler, as his spokesperson, as his attack dog,” she added. 

De Lima also dismissed Cayetano’s claim that he privately disagreed with Duterte’s drug war, arguing that his public statements showed otherwise.

“You want to frame yourself as a voice of reason? Stop pretending. This was never about human rights or due process for you. This is about your political survival,” De Lima said.

She accused Cayetano of merely distancing himself from Duterte now that the former president is facing international prosecution. If Cayetano truly believed in due process, she argued, he should support a legitimate investigation—including one that scrutinizes his own role.

Cayetano, for his part, defended his position. He maintained that any government official should have the right to go through the Philippine justice system before being sent to face trial abroad. He also claimed that Duterte’s ICC arrest was more about political revenge than human rights.

The senator insisted that he has remained independent of the country’s major political factions and rejected accusations that he enabled the drug war killings.

“When did I say that there was a shortage of killing? I always said that every life is valuable. We always talk about the sanctity of life,” Cayetano said.