Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, fresh from recovering from COVID-19, took a swipe at politicians who make electoral positions “a family business.”
“I assure you—I will not perpetuate myself [in power.] All things have an end—that is my guarantee,” he said during the groundbreaking of the city’s fifth housing project, the 20-storey Pedro Gil Residences.
“I really do not like that—politicians who think they can apportion power among themselves. It is as if politics is a family business,” Moreno said.
While Moreno did not identify the politicians he was referring to, a Duterte-Duterte scenario has long been floated by some members of the ruling political party PDP-Laban under the faction headed by Energy chief Alfonso Cusi.
President Rodrigo Duterte has said he is inclined to accept the nomination for him to run for vice president in next year’s elections even as he clarified that nothing is final yet. Senator Christopher Bong Go, on the other hand, has declined his nomination to run as the party’s standard bearer.
Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, for her part, said she has yet to make a decision on her 2022 political plans even as she told PDP-Laban to leave her out of its decision-making process.
Moreno likewise criticized those who have been busy looking at his old half-naked photos instead of focusing on the pressing problem at hand – the surging cases of COVID-19.
“Instead of being busy with COVID response, it seems that some people are busy looking at my photo at night – instead of at pictures of sick people, of those who died, of those who cannot be admitted because there are no more hospital beds,” he said.
“Perhaps my brief is more attractive than the problems of the country. I am honored but I am not happy… You all know my life story-—what else do you want to see from me? As for me, I will just work because I have an obligation to our people,” the mayor added.
Earlier this month, during his regular Monday night Talk to the People, Duterte said in Tagalog: “Filipinos should not be fooled with theatrics… I saw it on Facebook, that bikini-wearing, peeking at his private part. Is that what you want? Somebody whose training is like a call boy? A training for a president who strips naked and is photographed boasting about his private parts?”
But presidential spokesperson Harry Roque denied Duterte was referring to the Manila mayor, whom he appointed as undersecretary for the Department of Social Welfare and Development back in 2018.
“I don’t know why you are bringing up the name of Isko Moreno. I don’t know that he was the one doing sexy poses,” Roque said.
Pressed on why the President was commenting on the morals of a public official when Duterte himself admitted to molesting their household help when he was a teenager, Roque skirted the question and instead said Duterte never posed for a sexy photo.