Former President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a press conference at the Harana Restaurant in Davao City on Tuesday evening, 27 February 2024. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 February) – Former President Rodrigo Duterte has flip-flopped on his claim that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is allegedly a drug addict.
“Kung sabihin mo adik, wala akong sinabi na ganoon. Patayin ako ni Marcos niyan. Maawa ka naman sa akin (If you say Marcos is a drug addict, I never said that. Marcos might kill me for that. Have mercy on me),” Duterte said in a press conference at the Harana Bistro here Tuesday evening.
Duterte called Marcos “bangag” (high on drugs) during a “prayer rally” against the alleged people’s initiative to change the Constitution in Davao City on January 28.
“Even if you kill me a thousand times, wala akong sinabing ganun (I never said it). Maybe taking a drug, pero kung sabihing drug addict, wala akong sinabing ganoon (but if you say drug addict, I never said it),” Duterte said in jest.
Duterte said what he meant by Marcos taking drugs is “taking antibiotics (like) aspirin, as they are all drugs.”
On January 30, the former President even dared the incumbent leader to take a drug test at the Luneta Park in Manila.
When asked for an update about his dare, Duterte promptly responded “he had not said anything like that.”
Duterte’s challenge for a drug test was in reaction to Marcos’ comment on January 29 that what Duterte was saying in the rally here on January 28 must have been the effect of taking fentanyl, a highly-addictive pain reliever.
In December 2016, Duterte admitted abusing fentanyl, prescribed to him by doctors to relieve pain from a spine injury caused by a “bad slip” from a motorbike accident.
Duterte also claimed last night that he knows two friends of Marcos “who are also addicts, including one who is also working in Malacañang.”
House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos, had said Duterte and his allies must show evidence that the President is a drug addict.
In response, the Dabawenyo ex-President said Marcos is in public office “so he has to disprove it, it is not for me to prove it,” referring to the latter’s alleged use of illegal drugs.
Duterte added that it is “stupid” for people to ask him to prove his allegation.” (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
