Palace hits back at Duterte dictatorship claims
Philippine News Agency
By Darryl John Esguerra
February 23, 2025, 4:29 pm
MANILA -- A "hoax" and a "one-man fake news factory," Malacañang said Sunday of former president Rodrigo Duterte's accusation that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is "veering towards a dictatorship."
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin condemned the remarks.
He dismissed the allegations as "baseless" and "ridiculous," pointing out that it is Duterte who is falsely portraying the current administration as a threat to democracy.
"This hoax is another budol (trick), emerging from a one-man fake-news factory," Bersamin said.
"We treat the former president's baseless and ridiculous statements in the same way that Filipinos are dismissive of them: A tall tale from a man prone to lying and to inventing hoaxes," he said.
Bersamin emphasized that the Marcos administration would continue to uphold the constitution, adhere to the rule of law and protect the rights of the Filipino people.
"We will not backslide into the oppressive ways of the previous administration, when critics were jailed upon trumped-up charges and when kill orders were publicly issued with glee and obeyed blindly," he said.
The former chief magistrate also stressed that it was the previous administration, under Duterte, that was known for disregarding the rights of individuals and violating due process.
"It is the leader of that troubled past who is depicting us as veering toward a system where anyone can be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, as many had been on his mere say-so as a tyrant who did not respect the rights of the people," he said. (PNA)
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