Lacson: Duterte allies are not ‘infallible’
Credit to Author: Bernadette Tamayo| Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 08:38:49 +0000
SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Friday disagreed with President Rodrigo Duterte’s opinion that his allies were “infallible.”
The senator made the remark after Duterte on Thursday defended Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano against allegations of mishandling the P6 billion budget for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast (SEA) Asian Games.
Duterte believes that Cayetano, chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) and his runningmate in the 2016 national elections, “is not involved in corruption.”
Lacson on Twitter said, “He (Duterte) describes his close friends and allies like ‘lily-white driven snow’ and infallible while everybody else are demons and idiots.”
“While his opinion matters because he is the president of the republic, we know he is not always correct with a poor batting average in this regard,” Lacson tweeted.
In a previous tweet, Lacson said, “Nobody is saying that Phisgoc has committed corruption. We’re not there yet.”
“What’s evident so far are the complaints aired by the athletes which project incompetence and inefficiency that the President, no less, wants rectified and investigated,” he added.
Malacanang on Thursday said there would be no sacred cows in its investigation of the snafus that marred the country’s hosting of the 2019 SEA Games.
The Phisgoc has been hounded by controversies such as overpricing materials, not being able to ferry football teams from other countries to their respective hotels, mixed-up press cards, inadequate breakfast for athletes, and unfinished sporting venues.
Palace Spokesman Salvador Panelo said, “There is no sacred cow in this government. We have been repeatrdly saying that. Those who transgress the law will be accountable.”
Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Maria Josefa Imelda “Imee” Marcos support the call to investigate the alleged glitches and anomalies that marred the conduct of the SEA Games.
Cayetano said he was ready to face any investigation on the alleged irregularities after the biennial regional sporting meet.