A member of the Senate went to the defense of Minority Leader Franklin Drilon who was verbally attacked by President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, the second to the last he would have to make under hjis six-year presidency.
In a virtual press conference, Senator Richard Gordon noted that while the President was infuriated with Drilon, he should not come out with it (tirades) in public.
He said Duterte, whom he said should be “presidentiable” at all times, had mentioned many things in public which he should not have said.
Conceding that it’s the business of Duterte, and they were not meddling, Gordon still believes that he should not single out one person.
At the start of his SONA, Duterte took potshots at Drilon for saying there should be an Anti-Political Dynasty Law to get rid of oligarchy and dragging the names of his daughter, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, and his other children to the political dynasty.
“In an interview, he arrogantly mentioned among others that oligarchs need not be rich. Then he linked the anti-dynasty system with oligarchy and the topic was my daughter and son,” Duterte said.
The President blasted Drilon and called him a hypocrite since, as member of Congress, the senator was fully aware that this law could not be passed.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said that instead of inspiring hope and presenting a cohesive plan to the Filipino people in the middle of a crisis, Duterte used his SONA to rant about his personal grudge against the media and assail his critics including Drilon.
“ Clearly, there is no plan for the public,” said Hontiveros.
These so-called attacks against the oligarchy, she said. are yet another distraction from the lack of leadership in handling this crisis.
She said no oligarcy was dismantled. “And unlike the President, Senator Drilon does not belong to any political dynasty.”
She expressed hope that unlike the President ‘s SONA, the government should focus on responding to a pandemic..
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima has penned a poem expressing her disgust to a traitor—evidently alluding to Duterte—whom she accused of instigating human rights abuses and favoring the whims of the Chinese government in his four years in office.
De Lima also admitted it was almost impossible to give a mathematical grade or ranking of Duterte’s four-year performance, saying that she found “an offense to mathematics” to give him a grade for leadership.
Meanwhile, Drilon clarified that he never mentioned the children of the President amid discussions on dismantling oligarchy in the country.
“On the matter of oligarchy, I never, never mentioned the children of the President. When I mentioned oligarchy, I said, ‘Yes, I agree, oligarchy is bad for our economy, for our democracy,’” Drilon said.
However, Drilon insisted that he was only calling for a review in the country’s systems, saying that “as long as our system is the same, you’ll have one oligarch after the other in the administrations that will come up.”
“Let us review our structure. For example, I said the political dynasties law should be enacted. This is what is required under our Constitution and I have never mentioned the children of the president,” Drilon pointed out.
“Media asked me, ‘what about the children of the President?’ I said I am sure that the President can rise above all this and have the constitutional mandate followed,” the senator added.
Drilon said he had has filed a bill prohibiting political dynasties in the country, which he said was one of his priority measures.
He said the bill provided for the passage of the anti-dynasty law because “I believe that if we are going to dismantle the oligarchic system, we should also dismantle, to start with, political dynasty.”