The camp of presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that the government is preparing charges against the PDP-Laban standard-bearer over alleged extra-judicial killings in his turf.
“The charges reportedly stemmed from affidavits executed by a ranking police officer and supposed self-confessed gunmen. We view this development with serious cause for concern,” Duterte’s spokesperson Peter Laviña said in a statement on Friday.
Noting that the momentum was on their side, Laviña said the charges were being readied by the administration to allegedly sabotage Duterte’s numbers in recent preference surveys.
“We see the desperate hands of administration bets who are threatened by the surge in the popularity and voter preference for Duterte whose numbers continue to rise in all surveys,” he said.
“Duterte, running on shoestring budget and with little support from big business interests and political parties, is attracting nationwide support from ordinary folks—workers, peasants, youth and students, women, Moro and indigenous peoples, middle class employees and businessmen, from south to north of the nation as the campaign period enters midway point,” he added.
Saying Duterte was “on the heels” of being elected the first Mindanaoan president, Laviña raised doubts on the timing of the alleged charges and condemned them as “dirty tricks” and “underhanded tactics” against the mayor’s presidential bid.
“Certainly, they had all the opportunity, time, resources and wherewithal to file those charges when Duterte was a virtual nonentity in national politics. More so when he was not yet a declared presidential candidate,” Laviña said.
“We will resist this vain plot to pin him down because of his strong stand against crime and corruption. We warn them of the repercussions of such diabolical plan,” he added.
Malacañang has denied the allegations of Duterte’s camp, but implied that if charges will be pressed against the tough-talking mayor in the future, it will most likely come from his own mouth and not orchestrated by the government.
“The mayor is speculating on the possibility of past cases, in a sense, to head off any outcome from his own words. Anong ibig sabihin nito? Kung babalikan man ninyo ang media sa Davao at sa Mindanao, ang mga opinyon tungkol sa … May mga extra-judicial killings ba o wala? Mayroon bang culpability si Mayor o wala? Actually all originate from the statements of the Mayor himself,” said communications undersecretary Manolo Quezon.
“Siguro depende na rin ito kung may susuri sa mga statements na ito at kung may gagalaw at may magpa-file ng kaso. Siguro ang mas pinupuntirya ni mayor ang Commission on Human Rights. In which case, it would be best as an independent constitutional commission, for the Commission on Human Rights to answer his questions,” he added. RC