Sotto: Duterte must’ve been given wrong info, fake news prior to rant vs Senate 

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III surmised President Rodrigo Duterte may just have stumbled upon “fake news” online or have been given inaccurate reports which led him to rant against the chamber’s investigation into the use of pandemic funds.

“Offhand, this is just my perspective, offhand, I think the President is misinformed. If he has a clearer picture. If he has the whole picture, I think it would be different, his attitude will be different on this,” Sotto said in an INQside Look interview Thursday when asked on the President’s latest rants against the Senate.

The Senate blue ribbon committee is currently looking into the Department of Health’s handling of pandemic funds worth over P67 billion after state auditors flagged “deficiencies” in its utilization.

Last week, Duterte criticized the investigations conducted by the Senate, claiming they just lead to “nothing.”

“Just yesterday, Senator Bong Go was telling us—you know the close proximity of Sen. Bong Go with the President—he was telling us the President monitors Youtube and watches news programs. E baka nakakatalisod nga mga fake news do’n sa Youtube. Baka iba yung mga dating sa kanya or baka iba yung nire-report sa kanya,” Sotto went on.

(He might have stumbled upon fake news on Youtube. He could have seen it in a different perspective or he gets a different kind of report.)

“I’d like to think it [is] that way instead of saying na talagang parang intimidating, na talagang ika nga e, completely against [siya in] what the Senate is doing I hope not,” he added.

(It’s like intimidating, that he is completely against what the Senate is doing.)

Not showing off

In a taped address that aired Tuesday, Duterte once again slammed senators for “showing off” and urged the public to no longer vote for them in the coming elections.

The president particularly mentioned Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, as well as Senator Panfilo Lacson.

“Let’s make this clear. We’re not showing off, maybe some senators are more active than the others, maybe some senators have more materials than the others,” Lacson said in the same INQside Look interview.

“Maybe some senators have studied the issues better than the others. So walang show-off dito. Ako I’ve been consistent in scrutinizing year in, year out yung ating national budget and this is no exception because this is government spending,” he added.

(There’s no showing off here. Me, I’ve been consistent in scrutinizing year-in, year-out those involving our national budget…)

JPV