Palace on Duterte murder plot: He eats threats for breakfast

President Rodrigo Duterte remains “untouched” by the threats of an alleged assassination plot against him, a Palace official said on Thursday.

“He seems to be pretty much untouched by all these threats,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing.

Asked if Duterte was worried, Abella said the President was “concerned but not worried.”

The Palace official said threats were not new to the President even before he assumed his post as  Chief Executive.

“He eats threats for breakfast. Meaning to say, it is not something new to him. He said it again and again that he puts his honor, his life, his presidency on the line. It is a very heroic stand,” Abella said.

READ: 2 men caught smuggling gun parts ‘for Duterte assassination’

Duterte’s no-nonsense war on drugs has claimed the lives of over 2,000 people since he assumed his post. Despite criticisms from human rights groups, the President has said his crackdown on illegal drugs would be unrelenting.

“He really understands that there is call to war on several fronts already–war on drugs, war on terrorism, and war on crime. He is engaged in several fronts and he is really aware that his life is constantly under threat,” Abella said.

On Thursday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested two men for smuggling gun parts worth P4.5 million from the United States to Bacolod City.

Police have arrested one of the suspects Wilford Palma, who revealed that they sold gun parts that could be assembled into more than 100 M-16 rifles to a client who said “he will use the guns to assassinate President Duterte.” CDG/rga

READ: Duterte shrugs off alleged assassination plot