Palace: PH better off with dictator like Marcos is just Duterte’s ‘personal belief’

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC

The remarks of President Rodrigo Duterte that the Philippines is better off with a dictator like Marcos than a leader like Vice President Leni Robredo was just his “personal belief,” Malacanang said Friday.

“Well, maybe, that’s just the personal belief of the President that almost anyone can be better than the Vice President,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during a Palace briefing.

“With all due respect to the Vice President, that’s a personal assessment made by the President,” Roque added.

READ: Duterte: PH better off with dictator like Marcos than leader like Robredo

Duterte had earlier said that he wanted the likes of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand E.  Marcos – whom he once called the “brightest” Philippine president, to be his successor.

Robredo, whom Duterte earlier described as “incompetent,” is facing an electoral protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) after Marcos accused the Vice President of cheating him in the May 2016 elections, which also catapulted Duterte to the presidency.

Roque said the remarks of Duterte would not affect the election protest vs Robredo.

“Not at all. Because you know the PET is conducting what is called the revisions of the ballot. So it’s the ballots that will be speaking and not the justices individually,” he said.

They are just going through the ballots to ascertain who the people have voted for the position as Vice President,” he added. /jpv