President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday slammed the opposition senatorial slate “Otso Diretso,” saying they would all go straight to hell for their “lack of qualification.”
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As he continued to tour the country to campaign for his chosen candidates in the May midterm elections, Duterte took time to mock the capabilities of the opposition senatorial candidates.
“Who will you replace them with? The Otso Diretso that will directly go to hell?” the President said in his speech, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd during a campaign rally of the ruling PDP-Laban party in Zamboanga City.
“Just to be honest, I’m not [impressed] with them. Those people did not do anything but criticize. They’re all doubters,” Duterte said.
Led by Vice President Leni Robredo, the opposition Otso Diretso senatorial slate is composed of Senator Bam Aquino, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, former Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada, and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas II.
Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, and election lawyer Romulo Macalintal completed the eight-man slate.
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Duterte then hit each opposition candidate for supposedly being supporters of the communist rebels and for their supposed “inexperience.”
“Erin Tañada? Left. And they’re proud of the left. They think that it’s popular. Look, they even have the guts to create a ticket ‘Otso Diretso’,” the President said.
“Macalintal is a lawyer. However, he’s only a lawyer when he has the money.”
Duterte also belittled the Senate bid of Hilbay.
“I’m also wondering. Who will be at par with [former Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Francis] Tolentino in terms of qualification? Go on. Name a candidate. Macalintal? Hilbay? Tañada? Go on,” he said.
Duterte also believed Aquino had “underperformed” in his duties as a lawmaker, mocking him that he only looked like his uncle, former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
“You’re just a look-alike. What significant thing have you done? What have you done that is really impressive? You just oppose, you just rebuke,” Duterte said.
He said Roxas would not even beat former presidential top aide Christopher “Bong” Go in the senatorial race.
“Mar Roxas. Oh, God. He’s arrogant. I told him, ‘You’re done Mar.’ Just be a helper. I don’t know why will you make him a senator. He’s over. If during the [presidential] campaign he already showed his ‘best,’ then he won’t win against Bong, truly.”
Duterte said Roxas had done nothing despite holding various Cabinet positions in different administrations.
“What did he do? I ask you. You liberal, I ask you, what did he do? What did he do that left a mark in our country?” he said.
Roxas was Trade secretary during the Estrada administration, topped the senatorial race in 2004 under the ticket of then-president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He then served as Transportation and Interior secretary under President Benigno Aquino III.
“He passed over everything, but he’s all talk. What did he do? Give me one. Just one,” Duterte said.
Duterte also reminded the public not to make a mistake by voting Alejano.
“Alejano, he doesn’t have a sense when he talks. He knows English because he’s a PMAer [Philippine Military Academy graduate],” he said, recalling Alejano’s unsuccessful mutinies with then-Navy officer and now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“Don’t make a mistake in voting that Magdalo. Magdalo had revolted in Makati. Trillanes yelled and yelled, but when the police came, he surrendered.”
Duterte did not spare Diokno from his criticisms, comparing the human rights lawyer to his father, the late former Senator Jose W. Diokno.
“Especially this Diokno. He’s so far from his father W. Diokno,” he said. “Look at how he talks. It’s nothing.”
Duterte also mentioned Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc. But he refused to comment on her, the only woman in the opposition slate.
“Samira is a lady. I don’t want to say something against her. The rule is, if your enemy is a woman, you just shut up. Samira Ali Gutoc. So, I have nothing to say to you, ma’am,” he said.
This was the first time that the President hit out at the Otso Diretso slate months before the May midterm elections.
Sought for a comment, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said there was nothing wrong with the President’s criticism of the opposition slate. In fact, the President was being “funny” again with his remarks, he said.
“He was just being comical. Yes, when it comes to that, he’s just being funny. He criticized, but he was just being funny with the “go to hell” part,” Panelo said in a Palace press briefing Monday.
“You must remember that the President has his own candidates. Under the law, he can endorse or campaign against. So, there is nothing wrong as far as I’m concerned.”
