(Eagle News)—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, Feb. 14, clarified he was not endorsing the Senate comeback bid of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
Duterte made the clarification after he was seen, at an event, raising the hand of the former senator, who is recently out on bail on plunder and graft charges in connection with the pork barrel scam.
“Nandoon siya (sa Legazpi event) eh. Alang-alang naman na hindi ko siya… Even for just one single day masabihan mo ng kandidato mo 13 lahat. What is that to a friend? We know that he has suffered. We know that he was in prison,” Duterte said.
He said he did not endorse Estrada’s bid, and those of Jiggy Manicad and Bong Revilla, because “they gave me the signal too late.”
“Actually, about almost a year ago I was already forming the ticket,” he said.
Estrada and Revilla are under the ticket of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the regional party formed by the President’s daughter.
Critics then slammed what appeared to be Duterte’s endorsement of Estrada’s bid, noting the former senator was facing the cases in court.
But the Palace said any individual should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
