MANILA, Philippines — Saying he does not fear President Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Richard Gordon accused the Chief Executive of being a “bully” as he challenged him to “do [his] worst” against the lawmaker.
“Quite frankly, Mr. President, you are boring. ‘Di ako natatakot sa inyo. ‘Di po ako duwag [I’m not afraid, I’m not a coward]. Do your worst, as you did with the ABS-CBN. Do your worst like what you did to a senator who was elected by the people—I know you will try to do your worst,” Gordon said as the Senate blue ribbon committee resumes its investigation on the government’s pandemic response.
“Saktan niyo na ako. Akala niyo ba matatakot ninyo ako?…You’re a bully. And I’m sorry Mr. President but the Filipino people can fight back against bullies. Filipinos can have a revolution against bullies,” he added.
(Hurt me if you want. Do you think you can scare me?)
The Senate, particularly Gordon, has been at the receiving end of backlash from the President as the chamber continues to look into the controversial purchases made by the government last year.
“I’m not going to waste my time with you Mr. President because you’re no longer respectable as far as I’m concerned and as far as most of the Filipinos are concerned,” Gordon went on.
‘Lawyering for his people, Chinese’
Gordon once again slammed the President for “lawyering for his people [and] the Chinese.”
“I ask him respectfully, start lawyering for the Filipino people. Do your job, Mr. President. Why do you spend your time lambasting us?” the senator said.
Further, Gordon criticized Duterte for spending most of his public address, which is supposed to be allotted to report about the government’s pandemic response, to lash out against the Senate.
“Instead of talking about the pandemic, jobs and unemployment, he decided that he would try to demolish this person as well as even the society (Philippine Red Cross) that I have religiously worked without pay for the last 53 years,” the senator said.