EDITORIAL He said that
After famously calling President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. a drug addict, former president Rodrigo Duterte is suddenly saying he made no such claim.
"Wala akong sinabi na ganoon. Even if you kill me a thousand times, wala akong sinabi. Making, taking a drug. Pero kung sabihin mong addict, wala akong sinabi na ganoon. Patayin ako ni Marcos niyan. Maawa ka naman sa’kin, matanda na ako," he said during a recent interview.
Of course, his words during an anticharter change rally in Davao last January 28 were recorded and have been shared and printed many times.
“Noong ako po ay mayor, pinakitaan ako ng evidence ng PDEA. Doon sa listahan, nandoon pangalan mo ... That’s why sinasabi ko na sa inyo ngayon – si Bongbong Marcos bangag noon. Ngayong presidente bangag natin ang presidente. Kayong mga military alam ninyo yan. Lalo na yong nasa Malacañang. Alam ninyo. The Armed Forces of the Philippines alam ninyo na may drug addict tayo na presidente,” he said then.
What exactly is going on here? Has he lost his marbles and can no longer remember the things he said? Or does he indeed remember but really doesn’t care about the truth at all?
Let’s get one thing straight. He is no longer president. He is retired from politics. His words no longer have any power to them outside of the people in Davao and his most die-hard “DDS”. He no longer curries as much influence as before. In short he is politically harmless and can do little damage with whatever he will say or do from now on.
But still, we cannot help but wonder. If he doesn’t give a damn about whether something he says is true or not, what other claims did he make when he was still president that aren’t totally true, or things he said that he would backtrack on entirely? Or say but didn’t really mean?
In the end we really can’t blame him for what he is saying now. It may be because age is finally catching up with him, or perhaps he is covertly trying to make peace with this administration after everything he has said.
The specter of an ICC investigation still looms over him after all.