Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque
Congratulations, Davao City.
This was the reaction of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque to the recent action by the Davao City council declaring Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV as “persona non grata” in the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I don’t know how you want me to react because this has nothing to do with the President and I speak for the President, other than that, congratulations Davao City,” Roque said in a press briefing in Tabuk City on Tuesday.
Trillanes, along with Filipino-American businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis, were deemed “undesirable” and “unwelcome” in Davao City because of their criticisms against the Duterte administration.
READ: Trillanes, a ‘persona non grata’ in Davao City – local execs
Trillanes, a known staunch critic of Mr. Duterte, had earlier accused the Chief Executive of amassing unexplained wealth.
Responding to the order, Trillanes said that “the truth, definitely, hurts.”
“My statement was based on the December 2015 statistics of the PNP (Philippine National Police) that Davao City has the highest incidence of murder and second highest in rape,” he said in a statement.
“The people of Davao either know it but tolerate it out of fear or they’ve actually believed the lie that was fed to them that Davao City is the safest city in the world,” the senator added.
READ: Trillanes on ‘persona non grata’ tag: Truth hurts /muf
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