THE rise of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in recent surveys is “extremely frightening and disturbing,” former justice secretary and senatorial candidate Leila De Lima said on Tuesday night.

“Number one siya ngayon sa mga surveys. Where is that coming from?” De Lima said during the INQLive interview.

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In the recent Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN, Duterte gained a solo lead with 32 percent of voter preference.

Erstwhile poll frontrunner Sen. Grace Poe only had 25 percent.

De Lima said she was disturbed by Duterte’s continued rise as she slammed the mayor for his recent controversial remarks about the 1989 gang rape and murder of Australian missionary Jaqueline Hamill in a detention cell in Davao City.

“There are limits and there are standards for public speech,” she said.

While Duterte apologized to Filipinos “in general,” she said the tough-talking mayor doesn’t sound sincere.

De Lima also expressed doubt that Duterte can fulfill his promise to curb crime within the first six months of his administration if he wins the presidency.

“Hindi pa naman niya sinasabi sa atin kung paano talaga (niya tatapusin ang criminality),” she said.

He also dismissed Duterte’s anti-crime program as a “complete illusion.”

While De Lima admitted that criminality remains to be a top concern of Filipinos, she said it could not be reduced through “Duterte’s style.”

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The former justice secretary said when she was the chairman of the Commission on Human Rights in 2008, she launched an investigation into the Davao Death Squad during Duterte’s term as a city mayor.

De Lima said she is “the lone voice in the wilderness” to speak against Duterte.

“I am always the first to speak out taking him to task,” she said. “I am never silent when it comes to mayor Duterte. I cannot stand anymore his stand of impunity.”

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