MANILA - Senator Leila de Lima should take a break to avoid a nervous breakdown, President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday.

An incensed De Lima had blasted Duterte's efforts to link her to the illegal drugs trade as he dared authorities to arrest her.

"I would suggest that she takes days off then maybe I am afraid that if she continues yakking and listening to... she will have a nervous breakdown," Duterte said.

"In all sincerity, as a human being, honestly, I am not trying to derogate her. She's a lawyer. She's bright. She's breaking down," he said.

Allegations drug lords detained at the national penitentiary helped fund her senatorial campaign is a "most serious charge," Duterte said.