- Duterte’s spokesman claims the Aquino administration is trying to discredit the mayor through black propaganda campaign
- Criminal raps are reportedly being readied against Duterte over his alleged role in extra-judicial killings
- Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. denied the accusation
The spokesman of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte claimed the administration of President Benigno Aquino III is preparing to file criminal charges against the mayor over his alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings.
Peter Laviña, Duterte’s spokesman, said allies of President Aquino are launching a black propaganda campaign against the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) presidential bet, supposedly in a bid to discredit him ahead of the May 9 elections.
Philstar’s Mike Frialde wrote in his article that according to Laviña, the criminal charges set to be filed against the mayor reportedly stemmed from the supposed execution of sworn affidavits by a ranking police officer and the supposed self-confessed gunman.
Laviña tagged the administration bets as threatened by Duterte’s rising popularity.
“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,” the mayor’s spokesman said.
“There is no doubt in our mind that momentum is on our side. This ploy to resurrect the worn-out allegations against the mayor is a vain and desperate attempt to stop that momentum,” he added.
The spokesman said their camp consider the possible filing of criminal raps as “a serious cause for concern.”
He also questioned the timing of the plan to file the charges. He said it could have been filed earlier when Mayor Duterte has not yet filed his candidacy for president on the forthcoming elections.
“Certainly, they had all the opportunity, time, resources and wherewithal to file those charges when Duterte was a virtual non-entity in national politics. More so when he was not yet a declared presidential candidate. But now that he is on the heels of being elected the first President from the South, a Mindanaoan with strong Visayan roots, in more than 50 years, his opponents are training their guns on him to arrest his irreversible march to victory,” he said.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. denied Laviña’s allegations, saying the Aquino administration is not behind the rumored filing of criminal raps against Duterte.
“The government has no project to discredit Mayor Duterte or any other candidate,” Coloma said.
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