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- In the audio clip that was omitted, the president ranted against media giant ABS-CBN and other tycoons in the country.
- Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Senator Bong Go insisted that the president was not attacking the Kapamilya network despite the evidence.
In an edited out audio clip of President Rodrigo Duterte’s speech from an appearance before Jolo troops on July 14, he mentioned a problem he had with media giant ABS-CBN.
The unedited audio of Duterte’s speech indicated that he talked about ABS-CBN and how he dismantled oligarchy in the country. He also ranted against the network for “ruining” him.
“‘Yun namang ABS-CBN, binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko, ‘Kapag ako ang nanalo, bubuwagin ko ang oligarchy ng Pilipinas.’ Ginawa ko ‘yan without declaring martial law, sinira ko ‘yung mga tao na humahawak sa ekonomiya at umiipit at hindi nagbabayad,” he said.
The speech also included statements against Rappler, the Ayala Group, Manny V. Pangilinan, and D.M Consunji but the parts have also been edited out of the video posted on the website of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
“At saka ‘yang mga komunista, mga lefitst, ‘yang mga Rappler – kung ano-ano mga pinagsasabi. Pagsira. Ngayon sila, Amerikano. Ang masakit diyan, ang may-ari, Amerikano. Tapos ‘yung mga board of directors, sila Solita Monsod, Ayala. Putangina papaano,” he seemed to have stated in the audio ommitted.
“I do not know how the Ayala, Pangilinan, and Consunji will pay the Filipino. Kasi noon pa, 1997, wala na akong away sa kanila. I have accepted their apology but ‘yung akin, ‘yung ano ko lang – ‘yung galit ko lang.”
Media personalities can’t help but react to the edited speech. Atom Araullo posted a summary of the day’s questionable statements from the government.
Today in gov’t:
Malakanyang claims PRRD not referring to ABS-CBN in boast of dismantling the oligarchy, audio recording proves otherwise.
SOH claims PH has “flattened the curve” since April, clarifies it was just “bent”.
DTI claims online barter trade illegal, does a 180.
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) July 15, 2020
JP Soriano also tweeted a reaction to the said speech.
From an audio clip of PRRD’s speech in Jolo that was not included in the official RTVM release yesterday. The speech “appears” to be edited, but Malacanang won’t confirm if it was. https://t.co/CIeBTMi1Na
— JP Soriano (@jpsoriano) July 15, 2020
Gabbi Garcia then quote retweeted Araullo’s tweet with an upside-down smiley emoji.
— Gabbi Garcia ♡ (@gabbi) July 15, 2020
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Senator Bong Go then denied the claims and insisted that the president did not attack ABS-CBN or the Lopezes.
Go said that from what he understood, Duterte was not referring to a specific person or a group of persons in his speech.
“Sa pagkakaintindi ko, the President was not pertaining to any specific case but was talking about the impact of the administration’s continuing fight against corruption in his address to the military recently,” he said in a statement.
Roque, who has previously stated that the president has a “neutral” stance with the issue, said that the latter was likely talking about other big businessmen.
“He must be referring to the oligarchs which he named and he actually threatened to destroy but reconsidered after Lucio Tan paid airport taxes, and second, the MVP Group and Ayala Group because of their help in the time of [COVID-19].”
He added that Congress was the one that decided to decline ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal application and it cannot be connected to the president.
“I cannot be wrong [that the President was not referring to ABS-CBN]. Documentary evidence would show that it was Congress who threw out the franchise application of ABS-CBN. That cannot be attributed to the President. I am not spinning. I am repeating what the President said.”
