Presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte gives a speech during his grand rally in Davao City on March 16, 2016. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY—The camp of PDP-Laban Presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte has denounced as “garbage and a pathetic lie” the rumors that the tough-talking Davao City mayor has withdrawn from the presidential race.
In a statement on Thursday, April 21, Peter Laviña, spokesman and head of Duterte’s media group described it as black propaganda against Duterte and branded it as “wasteful attacks” which he claims “do not help raise the political maturity of our electorates.”
“Instead of presenting their [Duterte’s rival] platforms, the other camps are engaging in character assassinations and smear campaigns,” Laviña said.
“There is now more litter being thrown on Duterte than in sanitary landfills.”
“Duterte has a mission to help our country address rising crime, drug abuse, corruption and poverty and he will not back down from it,” he stressed.
Aside from the withdrawal rumors, Laviña said that there exist a so-called report by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group that the Dutertes are involved in smuggling in Davao.
“If this is true, cases should have been filed long ago and the Dutertes would have easily cleared their good names from these baseless accusations. Why raise this issue only now in the homestretch of the campaign,” he asked?
Laviña considered that the attack against Duterte as “an affront on the intelligence of our Filipino voters in sowing lies and baiting them with dis-information” adding that all “these will backfire on rival camps.” (davaotoday.com)
