Duterte hands off on allies’ quarrel
DAVAO CITY – President Duterte is keeping his hands off the war that has erupted between two of his staunch supporters.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. told The
STAR yesterday that the President had not talked to them since reports about their bitter feud blew up in public.
A source close to the President said Duterte had not called the two to a meeting to try to patch things up. “Wala, walang ginawa si Presidente. Pinabayaan muna niya (Nothing, the President did nothing. He’s just letting them be),” the source said. “He is just leaving them alone.”
Palace officials also said yesterday that Duterte would rather have the two erstwhile close friends settle the matter between themselves.
“Let’s put it this way: this is a… personal matter between two men. And I think they
should be – the Palace will allow them to settle it privately between themselves,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday.
With regard to allegations of Alvarez that Floirendo had used his position to secure favorable government deals for the family-owned Tagum Agricultural Development Corp. (Tadeco), Abella said it is best that formal charges are filed with the proper courts.
“It should be made formal. There should be due process regarding those things,” Abella pointed out.
Asked if Duterte or the Palace should interfere in the fight between the President’s two major allies, Abella said the executive branch opts not to meddle in the affairs of a co-equal branch.
“Interference, no. It is a matter that they should settle between themselves,” he said.
He also scoffed at criticism that the President had exhibited double standard with his hitting Sen. Leila de Lima’s supposed immorality, while remaining silent on his allies’ own indiscretions.
The President and his allies had repeatedly called De Lima immoral for having her driver as lover.
“I think it is not a question of being double standard. The fact remains that the relationship of the senator had something to do with the crime with which she has been accused of,” he said.
De Lima’s driver Ronnie Dayan allegedly collected protection money from convicts involved in an alleged drug trade inside the national penitentiary when she was still justice secretary.
The President himself is fond of joking about his indiscretions as well as those of his officials.
In his speech during a mass oath-taking ceremony at Malacañang last Thursday, Duterte even named some of his appointed officials and close allies who have extramarital affairs.
“I don’t think he is being gender specific. I think that’s framing it in a different – framing it differently,” Abella said, refusing to elaborate.
Asked about the Palace’s stand on extramarital affairs, Abella said the issue should be better left to the officials concerned. “I don’t think there is a specific statement regarding these matters. I think these matters are left mainly to personal morality,” he said.
Women defend Rody
In another briefing before the event marking Women’s Month at Malacañang, Justice Assistant Secretary Aimee Neri said Duterte never tolerated marital infidelity even when he was still city chief executive. She had worked with the President when he was mayor.
She pointed out Duterte has been pushing for the development and welfare of women, especially victims of abuse by their partners.
“If a person is legally married to another person, and having a paramour is not only illegal and immoral but it is unacceptable in our culture. The President himself even does not tolerate it,” she said in press briefing at the Women’s Month celebration at the Kalayaan grounds in Malacañang.
“Based on my experience, when he was mayor in Davao City, we handled many… cases in Davao City and majority of those cases are psychological cases, infidelity and all that. We have existing laws to prosecute,” Neri said.
“This I can tell you. I want you to know that beyond those utterances, on what could have been misinterpreted words from him is a helping hand and a heart that cares,” Neri said.
Press Assistant Secretary Marie Banaag asked the public to have a forgiving heart when it comes to the President’s sexist remarks and catcalling.
“I don’t want to be defensive about all these, but for Women’s Month, if we can have a forgiving heart… we voted for a President, we did not vote for a priest. We did not vote for a saint. On my part as a women, catcalling is relative, depending on who is hurt,” Banaag added.
“We are not saying that everything a person says is right. For that again, I ask as women, let’s have a forgiving heart. We did not vote for a priest,” she said.
Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Emily Padilla said Duterte can have affairs because he is legally separated.
“When we said extramarital affairs, the President is not married. He can afford to utter such remarks because he is not married,” Padilla said.
It was reportedly the quarrel between the girlfriends of Alvarez and Floirendo that fueled the animosity between the two lawmakers.
Alvarez suspected Floirendo of laying the groundwork for his ouster as Speaker and his replacement by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
He has filed a case with the Office of the Ombudsman against Floirendo for possible irregularity in an agreement between Tadeco and the Bureau of Corrections, but maintained the quarrel between their girlfriends had nothing to do with his decision to file the case.