Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa (File photo from Joseph B. Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte “did not mean murder” when he unleashed his scathing remarks against a Makabayan bloc lawmaker, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said on Friday.
It was just another “figure of speech,” Dela Rosa said in a phone interview with Senate reporters.
“Kill the ideology. We know that [former] President Duterte is using a figure of speech,” he observed.
“It didn’t actually mean murder, but to kill their presence, to kill what they were fighting for,” he clarified.
To support his statement, the senator explained he had never seen Duterte kill anyone.
“Alam mo naman si [former] President din, magsalita [ay] ganoon palagi. ‘Yan siya. Pero meron ba siyang pinatay? Meron ba siyang pinatay na tao?” he asked.
(You know the [former] President, when he speaks, [he is] always like that. That’s him. But did he kill anyone?)
“Wala naman akong nakita na pinatay niya na tao,” he asserted.
(I have not seen him kill anybody.)
“Siguro sa operation, ‘yung mga lumalaban na mga kriminal [o] lumalaban na mga terorista. E ganon talaga,” he remarked.
(Maybe in the operation, the criminals who are fighting [or] the terrorists who are fighting. Well, that is what it is.)
“Pero ‘yung ipapadukot [at] ipapapatay ka? Sa tagal tagal kong kilala ang tao na ‘yan, never ‘yan gumawa ng ganon,” said dela Rosa.
“But having you abducted or killed? I’ve known that person for a long, long time and he never did that.)
The senator was reacting to the former President’s recent television interview where he disclosed having advised his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, to just be frank to Congress.
The former President wanted his daughter to tell lawmakers that she needed confidential funds to combat communist insurgency.
His exact words when he recalled his conversation with his daughter were: “Pero ang una mong target sa intelligence fund mo, ‘Kayo [communists]. Ikaw, France. Kayong mga komunista ang gusto kong patayin.’ Sabihin mo na sa kanya.”
(But your first target in your intelligence fund, ‘You (communists). You, France. You communists are the ones I’d like to kill.’ You tell her.)
The senator said Duterte was only trying to emphasize the point that confidential funds should be used to dismantle and weaken leftist groups.
Even before this, De la Rosa already tagged Makabayan bloc as “enemies of peace.”
He had said the group was blocking the Vice President’s request for the confidential funds because they knew the appropriations would be used against them.
Makabayan bloc is composed of Kabataan Party-list Representative Raoul Manuel, ACT Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro, and Gabriela Party-list Representative Arlene Brosas.
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