DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday taunted Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II for failing to show up at a presidential forum in Manila on Wednesday, saying he was apparently “on drugs.”
“Let me ask him: Is he on drugs?” Duterte told reporters at the De La Salle University.
“They want a debate but they aren’t here.”
The ruling Liberal Party had criticized Duterte for saying Tuesday night that Roxas was “desperate to win” but yet was “so incompetent”.
“I have never seen a Filipino in quest for the presidency [who is so incompetent],” Duterte told Chinese-Filipino businessmen in Binondo, Manila, Tuesday night.
He said Roxas had accomplished nothing throughout his political career and government service under the different administrations he worked for.
Roxas’ spokesman Rep. Barry Gutierrez defended him from Duterte’s attacks on Wednesday morning.
“Mayor Duterte excels at throwing insults. But when Mar challenged him to a debate on substantial issues, he was quick to retreat and make excuses,” Gutierrez said.
“We’ll reiterate our call: Face Mar [Roxas] in a debate no matter if the mayor is only number 4 in the surveys. We won’t take it against him.”
Duterte’s running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, also blasted Gutierrez.
“Barry Gutierrez asked a debate for his principal but his principal isn’t here,” he said.
“[Duterte] showed up but his principal [Roxas] didn’t show up.”
The organizers of the presidential forum said that while two presidential tandems had earlier declined their invitation to speak due to other commitments, another presidential candidate “declined on Tuesday at 7 p.m.”
Roxas’ camp made an announcement to reporters at 12 midnight that he could not make it to his set political sortie on Nueva Ecija yesterday due to “high fever.”
The criticisms thrown by the presidential candidates against each other started when Roxas questioned Duterte’s stance against hoodlums. John Paolo Bencito
“Being a toughie has gotten to be old. Are there no criminals and illegal drugs in Davao City?” Roxas said at a media forum in Pasay City Tuesday morning.
Roxas had previously said that the supposed peaceful image of Davao City was a “myth,” and that sparked a word war between him and Duterte.