Palace to De Lima: Ignore you? Fine

FROM now on, the executive would ignore the "vindictive" and "blabbering" rants of detained Senator Leila de Lima against President Rodrigo Duterte, Malacañang said on Thursday, February 6.

Panelo made the statement after De Lima told him that he should have ignored her, if he thinks that she is already "irrelevant."

In a statement, Panelo said he would "happily" heed De Lima's request to pay no attention to the latter's tirades against the Duterte government.

"Since it's coming from her that she should be ignored and apparently agreeing that she has become an irrelevant political entity, then I agree with her that she should be ignored and I'll happily oblige her," he said.

"Henceforth, any rant from her against [Duterte] and the administration, apart from saying that it is coming from a disgruntled and failed politician, such vindictive and negative blabbering is ignored," Duterte's spokesman added.

This developed after De Lima slammed Panelo for continuously issuing "venomous" remarks against her.

De Lima, in a statement issued earlier Thursday, told Panelo to just keep quiet, if he considers her an "irrelevant" politician trying to "reenter the public's consciousness."

"Mr. Panelo, if indeed I'm now irrelevant, trying to 'reenter the public's consciousness' as you assert, why do you still keep on hitting me with such venomous intensity? You can just ignore me, right?" the senator said.

"And by the way, ranting is not your master's exclusive domain. So please, cool off," she added.

The tiff between the two stemmed from Panelo's response to De Lima's suspicion that there might be a "coverup and whitewash" in the real motives for the bombings at a Cathedral church in Jolo, Sulu and a mosque in Zamboanga City.

De Lima on Monday, February 4, called on an independent probe into the bombing incidents, in a bid to let the "truth" be known by the public.

But on Tuesday, February 5, Panelo merely shrugged off De Lima's "nonsense" rants.