Challenges them to a “healthy debate” of programs instead
(Eagle News)—The Palace on Monday, Jan. 14, slammed the critics of President Rodrigo Duterte for engaging in “destructive politicking,” challenging them to a “healthy debate of programs and platforms productive and beneficial to the Filipino people” instead.
“Our people are fed up with the destructive politicking dished out by the opposition and President Duterte’s critics and detractors,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
Panelo in particular slammed Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who he said “must have been referring to himself and correctly so” as “baliw” when he described President Duterte as such following the filing of grave threats charges against him.
The charges stem from an incident in 2018, when Trillanes allegedly threatened to “do away with” Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras, who was behind the filing of an inciting to sedition complaint against the senator at that time.
According to Panelo, Trillanes’ “rants go against the sentiments” of 81 percent of Filipinos approving Duterte’s performance and the 76 percent trusting him based on results of the Pulse Asia survey conducted in December last year.
“He (Trillanes) pompously claims he is not afraid of facing the criminal suits against him but his partisan vociferous rantings show that he is in mortal fear of going back to jail,” Panelo said.
According to Panelo, Filipinos “want to maintain the visible and continuing genuine change, as well as the tangible results they are witnessing and experiencing under the current leadership of the President.”
“With the election period for the May midterm polls in the horizon, we expect the political noise to escalate further. The handwriting on the wall as graphically shown by the survey figures is glaring,” Panelo said.
