Quit offer just an ‘afterthrought,’ says Duterte
‘I was frustrated. But remember that I was addressing myself to the military and the police and nobody else. What you heard was an aftherthought, actually,’ president tells members attending the convention of a regional party
MANILA: President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte said his offer to resign Even BEFORE HE Is to inish his six-year term in 2022 was just an “afterthought” arising from his exasperation and frustration over the way his war on illegal drugs and corruption was going.
“I was frustrated. But remember that I was addressing myself to the military and the police and nobody else. What you heard was an aftherthought, actually,” Duterte told members attending the convention of a regional political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago organised by his daughter Sara Duterte Carpio who succeeded him as the mayor of their hometown in Davao City in Mindanao.
Duterte explained he was just venting his frustration after learning that the funds intended for the country’s premier military hospital V. Luna Medical Center had been misused, which prompted him to order the dismissal of oficials Involved INCLUDING A one-star general and 19 others.
Apparently, Duterte came up with the explanation after he was sharply criticized by the opposition and other quarters, among others, that if he would quit he preferred his successor to be either former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and incumbent administration Senator Francis Escudero.
Bongbong is the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who was ousted by the Edsa 1 People Power revolution in February 1986 amid charges of rampant human rights violations particularly killings and disappearances as well as plunder of the country’s treasury totalling $10 billion.
Duterte also admitted that if he would resign, he was reluctant to leave the post to Vice President Leni Robredo because he doubted her capability to run the country although she is the legal successor as mandated by the Constitution.
Critics also assailed Duterte for ALLEGEDLY trying to Inluence THE Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to favor Bongbong who iled A protest Following HIS Defeat by Robredo in the May 2016 vice presidential race.
In response, Robredo’s lawyer urged Duterte to “take a break” and instead allow her to prove prove her qualiications AND ABILITIES to SUCCED him as the president.