President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he threatened to bring the “ultimate humiliation” to an Albay mayor for allegedly harassing the widow of Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, who was assassinated on Dec. 22.
In his speech in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, the President said he would now allow political terrorism to prevail, saying he already warned the mayor for terrorizing the Batocabe family.
“When I was in Albay, I did not name him, but I said, ‘Mayor, f*** y**. Don’t ever think that you’re the only person who can do that. Do not ever think that only you have the monopoly of evil in this world. There’s a lot of us. If you can think of doing something like that, I can do that too,” Duterte said in his speech during the distribution of certificates of land ownership to agrarian reform beneficiaries in Kidapawan City Saturday evening.
“I told him, ‘Once I hear that you make threats in this place, I will go into your house. I will really tell you that even though I don’t want to, I will slap you in front of your wife and children. I will give you the ultimate humiliation,” Duterte said.
He said he would shame the local chief executive if he continues to intimidate the congressman’s widow and family.
“Now, you want a shootout? Then fine. Okay. It will be just the two of us in your room,” Duterte said.
“I told him, ‘F*** y**. Do not threaten the widow.”
The President said he urged Getrudes Duran-Batocabe, the widow of the slain lawmaker, to take his place as candidate for mayor in Daraga, Albay for the 2019 midterm elections.
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On Thursday evening, Batocabe’s widow said that no less than the President asked her to run so as not to let her husband’s death go in vain.
“I have been told that I can. But my main focus right now is to bury him with dignity and honor in accordance with how he lived his life. And after this is justice. We will not allow that there would be no justice,” she said.
Batocabe, 52, was distributing Christmas gifts in his hometown in Daraga, Albay when he and his police escort were gunned down by still unidentified assailants after claiming that his rivals were using armed groups to meddle in the polls.
The slain politician was eyeing Daraga’s mayoral seat in the upcoming elections, pitting him against incumbent Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo and Vice Mayor Victor Perete.
Reacting to speculations that he was the mastermind behind Batocabe’s death, Baldo took to Facebook to deny any involvement in the crime.
“Let us avoid trial by publicity and wait for the final results of the ongoing investigation,” he said in a statement Thursday.
“I don’t want to aggravate the situation. I am asking for understanding [and] let the authorities do their work for the early solution of the case,” he added.
Baldo is seeking reelection under Lakas-CMD while Perete also intends to seek the mayoral post under the PDP-Laban.
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