'I don't consider Duterte a political enemy'

Former president Rodrigo Duterte. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO

WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he did not view his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte as a political enemy even if he predicted they would be at odds over differing views in foreign and domestic matters.

“It takes two to tango, I don’t consider him a political enemy,” the chief executive said in a media interview prior to flying back to Manila after wrapping up his meeting with United States President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida here.

Marcos was reacting to Duterte’s criticism of him after enforcing the 60-day preventive suspension against Davao del Norte Governor Edwin Jubahib.

The President insisted that due process was observed and that charges against Jubahib were filed even before he was in office.

“I think he is an experienced lawyer. If he wants, I’ll send him all of the court records and all of the discussions because this has been dragging for a long time. And it’s taken close to two years because it went through the process. So, I’m confident — let anybody investigate,” he said.

“Actually, I only learned about the cases about a year ago. I did not know that such existed. I learned about it a year ago as part of my briefer, my daily briefer. So, I’m very sure we did all of it, we went through all of the checks and balances. We went through all the procedures, the proper procedures, before we came to the decision. Before the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) came to the decision of imposing a suspension,” he added.

The President also brushed off Duterte’s tirades of him being “pro-America” and a “crybaby” in relation to the Philippines’ territorial row with China over the West Philippine Sea.

“You know, to be a crybaby, you have to cry. Did you see me cry? I don’t pay any attention to that. I really don’t. That means absolutely nothing,” he said.

“Again, the former president is a highly experienced lawyer. He should know that ad hominem attacks like that really have no place in this kind of this very important and very precarious discussion. If you tell me I’m ugly, then I’m ugly. So what? Those personal ad hominem attacks have no place here,” he added.