Ex-president willing to face Quad Comm probe
Former President Rodrigo Duterte maintained that he has no axe to grind with incumbent President Marcos as he highlighted the crucial role of an opposition to serve as check and balance, but not to the point of destroying the administration.
“If you say there is a need for an opposition, I would gladly take the role as an opposition, not to destroy the president, but to be there, just to see to it that everything is followed and everything is done correctly,” he said during a press briefing in Davao City Saturday evening.
“I will tell you (President Marcos) as a friend if you are wrong and something has to be corrected. We will just keep our mouth shut, but if you do not do anything, then we will be forced to take the side as an opposition,” he added.
Duterte insisted that he has no quarrel with his sucessor in the Palace but certain quarters are pitting them against each other.
“That’s the problem, that’s what hurts, the president knows that we don’t have a fight,” he said in Cebuano.
This was the second time Duterte publicly said that he and Marcos are not enemies, political or otherwise.
On Sept. 21, the former president said during a political rally that, “Marcos doesn’t have abuses that I am aware of. For as long as he maintains this attitude it’s okay. I think that I can live with him, I can bend with him.”
However, Duterte pointed out that the Marcos administration’s emphasis on distributing financial assistance for impoverished Filipinos should be moderated so there would be more funds left over for key infrastructure projects.
“I am not passing judgment on the president. If that is what he wants to be remembered…” Duterte said in a mixture of Filipino and English.
Meanwhile, after making himself scarce during recent Quad Committee (Quad Comm) hearings at the House of Representatives, Duterte now says he is willing to face the probe on alleged state-sponsored executions of drug personalities if invited by congressmen.
“What do they [ lawmakers] want to know? If they will invite me [I will come]. I just hope that they would ask educated questions,” he said in a mixture of Filipino in English during a press briefing in Davao City Saturday evening.
When quizzed by reporters about extra judicial killings (EJKs) the took place during his presidency, Duterte cryptically said “Naku, totoo ‘yan. (Oh, that’s true).”
It left reporters wondering, however, if that was an admission of authorizing EJKs or if he was just conceding that such crimes happened to have taken place during the six years he was in office.
It can be recalled that solons called out Duterte, along with his close associates, for dodging Quad Comm hearings despite repeated invitations.
The panel’s overall chair, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert ‘Ace’ Barbers has said that he has questions for Duterte regarding how the ‘war on drugs” was conducted during his administration.
Likewise, Santa Rosa, Laguna Rep. Dan Ferandez said the former president has some explaining to do regarding the rise of Philippine Overseas Gaming Operators (POGOs) during his term in Malacañang.
Duterte flatly denied that his government encouraged the prolifeation of POGOs in the country.
During the press conference, wherein Duterte also announced his intention to win back his old job as mayor of Davao City, he made a not-so-veiled threat against former Senator Leila De Lima.
The former president said he would release a supposed sex tape of De Lima if she continues making defamatory statements about him.
“I just want to make peace with everybody. But if she starts to f__k everything, hindi kita aatrasan (I won’t back down from you),” he declared.
De Lima was detained from February 2017 to November 2023 due to what she maintained were trumped-up drug charges thrown against her by the Duterte administration in an attempt to silence an outspoken critic of its war on drugs.
Officially, some 6,181 individuals were allegedly murdered at the behest of the Duterte administration as part of its supposed “war on drugs.”
