MANILA, Philippines — “Slurred, para kang lasing.”
This was President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest attack against Senator Richard Gordon during his pre-recorded “Talk to the People’ aired Thursday morning. He blasted the lawmaker once again for talking too much, calling Gordon a “despot” and a “pathological story-teller.”
Duterte criticized the way Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, conducted the probe on the government’s purchase of allegedly overpriced medical supplies last year.
The President, who is known to hold lengthy, off-script public speeches to slam his critics, further said Gordon always cuts the resource person when talking, effectively not allowing them to answer.
“‘Yung blue ribbon committee, ang (the) chairman is a despot. He does not allow anybody to answer and cuts the testimony of even the COA [Commission on Audit],” he said.
“Nakinig man ako, anong klaseng tao ito? And he talks and talks and talks. He cannot help but open his mouth. He is a pathological story-teller, si Gordon,” he added.
(I listen to the hearings. What kind of a person is this? And he talks and talks and talks. He cannot help but open his mouth. He is a pathological story-teller.)
The President then told Gordon that he sounds like a drunk when he is talking, especially when he “slurs” when talking in English, which is not unlike Duterte.
“Pa-English-English, ‘yung English mo hindi naman maintindihan ng lahat. Mag-English ka, Filipino-English, mag-i-English na slur. Slurred para kang lasing,” he said.
(When you speak English, it cannot be comprehended. It is slurred. You sound like a drunk.)
Duterte spent about an hour of his two-hour public address criticizing Gordon.
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The President has previously called Gordon a “talkathon” champion as he led the Senate inquiry into the Department of Health’s (DOH) handling of its 2020 pandemic funds.