Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II FILE PHOTO
FORMER Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the Liberal Party standard-bearer, can’t seem to get over Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s accusation that the ruling party was behind rumors the mayor was suffering from throat cancer.
After earlier denying that his camp was behind the black propaganda, Roxas on Monday expressed confidence he would remain on Duterte’s good side, referring to the mayor as “a long-time friend.”
Roxas said he was saddened that he was suspected of being behind supposed efforts to discredit Duterte, who turned down the clamor of his supporters to run for president in next year’s elections.
Roxas said he was able to send a personal message to the tough-talking mayor to clarify reports implicating him and his supporters in the black propaganda.
Years of friendship
“I’m confident he will be able to see that I had nothing to do with the intrigues or insinuations that he has been hearing lately. With our years of friendship, I will never think of doing that to him or to anybody,” Roxas told reporters at the LP headquarters in Quezon City.
Roxas said he would never attack anyone by saying they had cancer, noting that he lost both his father, Sen. Gerry Roxas, and his brother, Capiz Rep. Gerardo “Dinggoy” Roxas Jr., to the disease.
“To Mayor Digong,” he said, using Duterte’s nickname, “I can tell you up front, eye to eye, that I had nothing to do with it. I was not behind this nor did I order someone to do it.”
No coordination
He said he had no “coordination, conversation or any kind of relation” with journalist-turned-public relations practitioner Philip Lustre, who was identified by Duterte as the one who wrote an article saying he was suffering from cancer.
In a radio interview last Friday, Duterte lambasted Roxas’ camp for allegedly mounting a campaign to malign him.
The mayor said he was hurt by the “misinformation” about his health, noting that he had considered Roxas a friend after working with him in the 11th Congress.
He also said he would “tell the entire Philippines why this person should not be elected president,” apparently referring to Roxas.