Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Thursday dared Senator Leila De Lima to deny President Rodrigo Duterte's allegations against her.
Duterte the day before linked a senator and her driver to illegal drugs. He said the senator once had him investigated for alleged vigilante killings in Davao City.
De Lima, the former secretary of justice who initiated an investigation into the Davao Death Squad, accused Duterte of "character assassination."
In a news conference, De Lima said Duterte's remarks against her was an "abuse and misuse of executive power."
"The question that the good senator should respond to is: Is the information given by President Duterte on her true or not? In her press conference she called she did not deny nor refute the information," Panelo said.
"Character assassination predicates the adverse information on the conduct of a person as being false," he added.
Panelo then went on to say that it was in fact De Lima who first defamed Duterte for tagging him in alleged human rights violation of an unconfirmed vigilante group in Davao City, where he served as mayor for over two decades.
"For six years Sen De Lima has disparaged the reputation of PRRD (Duterte) as being behind the Davao Death Squads but during her stint as s Chairman of The Human Rights Commission and Secretary of Justice she never filed any criminal complaint against PRRD," Panelo said.
Panelo said that Duterte welcomed any investigation on his anti-illegal drug trafficking campaign.
"As an official policy PRRD welcomes any investigation by any entity or any branch of the government on the extra-judicial killings as in fact he has directed the PNP to investigate the same. PRRD will not allow or tolerate any salvaging of any citizen," Panelo said.
De Lima is scheduled on Mondau to lead a Senate probe on extrajudicial killings that happened during Duterte's first 50 days.
Panelo defended Duterte's remarks, saying they were pieces of information rather than accusations.
"President Duterte's statement on Senator De Lima's demeanor as a public official is a continuation of his report to the people on the state of the nation," Panelo said.
"As the Supreme Court puts it, the naming of PRRD of the government officials involved in the illegal drug trafficking and coddling is an information and not an accusation hence the remarks of PRRD on Sen. De Lima is an information reported to the nation on the questionable behavior of a public official," he added.