Senator Risa Hontiveros tagged President Rodrigo Duterte as an “abusive father” to Filipinos hours before he was to deliver his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.
As Malacañang earlier said Mr. Duterte would speak from the heart and as the “father of the nation,” Hontiveros said he is “anything but a loving father to the country.”
“On the contrary, President Duterte is an abusive father,” the Senator said in a statement.
“Like the abusive father who lives in a decrepit house where he repeatedly maltreats, torments, and injures his wife and children, President Duterte is drunk with power, presiding over a broken country drowned by the blood of the poor,” she added.
Hontiveros questioned how Duterte allegedly “directed” the killing of thousands of Filipinos in his anti-drug war, which she said he “likened to Holocaust with pride.”
She also slammed anew Duterte’s policies on loiterers or “tambays,” the West Philippine Sea conflict with China, his lack of power to stop killings of local executives, contractualization, and tax reform, among others.
For Malacañang, however, Hontiveros is alone in her stand.
“Nahihilo po siguro ‘yung Senadora diyan. Nag-iisa po siya,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told Radyo Inquirer when sought for comment on Hontiveros’ remark.
(Maybe a lady Senator there is getting dizzy. She’s the only one.)
“Siguro po nag-iisa si Senator Risa Hontiveros sa ganyang pananaw (Maybe Senator Risa Hontiveros is alone on that perspective),” he added, citing recent “record-high” surveys of the President. /kga