WATCH: Duterte, in American accent, mocks Yasay’s rejection
In his usual comedic self, President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday poked fun at ousted Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay’s rejection from his post by the Commission on Appointments (CA) for supposedly lying about his American citizenship.
In his speech at the League of Municipalities of the Philippines general assembly in Manila Hotel, Duterte impersonated Yasay, whom he said was his dormitory roommate while studying law, using a rambling American accent.
“Si Yasay naman, ‘Well I don’t know why I was ousted by the Commission on Appointments… but I did not lie,’” Duterte said before mayors, imitating Yasay’s accent.
“And so if you did not lie, why are you out of the Cabinet?” the President added.
Duterte reiterated his previous remark that issues hounding Yasay’s citizenship started when the latter left the country to travel abroad during the martial law years.
“Ang totoo n’yan, wanted ‘yang… sumibat sila nila Maceda, and because he had to travel he was accommodated by the State Department. He sought asylum eh… Kaya doon nagkanda letse letse ‘yung papeles nya. Pero Pilipino talaga yan. Roommate ko nga eh,” Duterte said.
The CA on Wednesday unanimously ruled to reject Yasay’s appointment as DFA chief after his admission of “misleading” lawmakers about his citizenship. He is Duterte’s first nominee to be rejected by the CA.
In an initial hearing last February, Yasay claimed that he had never been an American citizen and had never been issued a US passport. But documents obtained by the Inquirer showed that Yasay was granted American citizenship in 1986, which he formally renounced at the US Embassy in Manila on June 28, 2016, or two days before President Duterte appointed him as foreign affairs secretary. CBB
