Rody Duterte’s drug user, pusher tags vs foes part of a ‘playbook’ – Tiangco
HISTORIC VENUE Former President Rodrigo Duterte speaks on Thursday at the proclamation rally for the senatorial candidates of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in the midterm polls at Club Filipino in San Juan City. (Photo from NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)
DAVAO DEL NORTE — Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest remarks against his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not surprise the campaign manager of the administration Senate slate.
Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco, campaign manager of Alyansa sa Bagong Pilipinas, said Duterte’s accusation of Marcos being a drug user is part of the former chief executive’s “playbook.”
When asked for a reaction on Duterte’s attacks, Tiangco said in a One News interview on Friday: “I don’t plan on addressing it.”
“Kasi ‘di ba ganoon naman yung playbook ni [former] President Duterte, ‘di ba?” he said.
(Well, that’s the playbook of former President Duterte, right?)
“Even before, basta’t kalaban nya, yun naman yung number one accusation nya – either drug user o drug pusher ‘di ba? So bakit pa natin papatulan yung bagay na ‘yon?” he asked.
(Even before, as long as you were an opponent, that is his number one accusation – either drug pusher or user, right? So why should we dignify those things?)
Tiangco is hoping that Marcos will not dignify Duterte’s latest barbs with a response.
“I hope not. It’s a playbook. It’s already a formula,” Tiangco said when asked if Marcos is expected to address the accusations.
At the proclamation rally of Duterte-backed senatorial slates on Thursday, Duterte claimed that Marcos allegedly uses heroin.
Duterte made the verbal attacks as Marcos unleashed a thinly-veiled salvo of criticisms against his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.
The chief executive, who made a pitch for the 12-member Alyansa, said these senatorial candidates are not “tainted by the blood” of drug war which killed thousands.
He also remarked that the candidates did not profess pro-China and pro-Philippine offshore gaming operators sentiments, among other social ills, as opposed to the nine-man slate backed by the former president.
The administration bloc is fielding Senate reelectionists Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, and Francis Tolentino; former senators Vicente Sotto III, Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao; House lawmakers Deputy Speaker Camille Villar and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo; former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos; and Makati City Mayor Abby Binay.
In 2021, Duterte also accused certain presidential aspirants for 2022 polls of using cocaine.
Also during Duterte’s time, his fiercest and one of the most prominent critics, Sen. Leila de Lima, was jailed for six years, eight months and 21 days over drug charges.
De Lima, who was charged and arrested in 2017, had always maintained her innocence, claiming that the charges were baseless.
She also said the cases were being concocted in retaliation for the investigation she conducted in the Senate on Duterte’s bloody drug war.
