DAVAO CITY – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who backed out ahead of the presidential elections next year, has tagged Mar Roxas, a presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party, as allegedly behind a black propaganda against him.
The 70-year old Duterte, who was reported in a news article, as suffering from throat cancer and is the reason why the influential and tough-talking mayor announced recently that he was backing out from the presidential elections.
The article, citing unnamed sources, about Duterte’s alleged throat cancer and how it affected the health of the politician. Duterte strongly denied the reports and branded the writer as a puppet of political groups.
“The former journalist, now a PR man, who wrote about my “throat cancer”, is one of the puppets of political interest groups and politicians who lust for power and the money that comes along with it. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that this PR man is promoting the candidacy of administration Presidential bet Mar Roxas,” Duterte said.
“In previous articles he wrote, he has labelled Vice President Jejomar Binay a thief, Senator Grace Poe an upstart, and called me the Philippines’ version of Cambodian monster Pol Pot and made fun of my thick Visayan accent when I speak Tagalog,” he added.
Duterte branded the report as “unfounded and malicious.” He said the article is a glaring proof of how corrupt the nation has become.
“Corruption is no longer a monopoly of politicians and those who are in government service; it has already permeated almost every fabric of the Philippine society. Greed for material gains has corrupted religious groups, the police and military, the judiciary, the prisons, and the private sector.”
“Worse, the press and media, supposed to be the conscience of our society and mirrors of who we are, have allowed themselves to be instruments in distorting the truth, all for the love of the scent of money. Painting others black in order to look white is now the name of the game in the social media, including mainstream media with pseudo-journalists writing and broadcasting lies to advance the interests of their political patrons,” Duterte further said.
He said it is alright for people to question his state of health and his alleged human rights violations in the process of turning Davao City from former killing fields of communist assassins to being one of the world safest cities today.
But he said “reporting about a person’s alleged serious medical condition like throat cancer, however, should be done even with just feigned sympathy rather than ridicule. We are all fair game and that is just alright. It is not right, however, when the focus of the scrutiny is just the perceived opponents of the administration Presidential bet, former Secretary Mar Roxas.”
“It is not fair to paint Binay, Poe and Duterte black just so Mar Roxas would appear white. Mar Roxas, should he really want to be President, must stand on what he has done, his record of government service, his competence and his plans for the country. Mar cannot stand on our carcasses badly mangled by his PR men just so he could reach his Presidential ambitions. I hold the Mar Roxas camp responsible for the actions of this PR man,” Duterte said.
He called on Roxas, including Binay and Poe, to raise the level of political campaigning to a plane where the people are given the accurate picture of who the candidates are and what they could do for the country.
“Let us not corrupt our people’s mind and influence their political decision with lies. Let us show people who their prospective leaders really are, what their plans are and what future they could offer the future generations of Filipinos. The Presidency is destiny. No amount of lying, deception and distortion of truth would help,” Duterte said.
“As for me, I believe I have been truthful to the people on my health conditions. Yes, I have spinal problems because of a bad fall from my big bike a few years ago. I suffer pain in the neck because of this injury. Yes, I am suffering from the ill-effects of years of smoking cigarettes but it is nothing serious. I have quit smoking and I take moderate amount of alcohol during social gatherings.
“Yes, at 70, I am starting to feel the effects of old age. No, I do not have throat cancer and I challenge anybody who believes otherwise based on information provided to him by “impeccable sources” to set the time and date and name a medical facility where I could undergo a medical examination to prove it,” he added.
Duterte said instead of focusing on his health, “we all should focus on the more malevolent diseases afflicting our country – corruption, disregard of the law, crime and drugs, apathy and hopelessness. These illnesses are real, not imagined, and something must be done fast by somebody before they metastasise and result in a national paralysis.”
There was no immediate statement from Roxas about Duterte’s statement, but the former Interior Secretary recently campaigned in Davao City along with President Benigno Aquino. Some 2,000 people attended the event dubbed “a gathering of friends,” held at the SMX Convention Center. (Mindanao Examiner)
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