Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Senator Manny Pacquiao, by describing them as opportunists who want to ‘hold power’.
“Both want to hold power in the government because they must have seen an opportunity for themselves,” Duterte said in his weekly Cabinet briefing in Malacanang.
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Meanwhile, Trillanes – who is a constant critic of Duterte – has recently accused the president and his closest ally, Senator Bong Go of plundering Php6.6 billion in government contracts through the construction firm owned by the senator’s father. However, Senator Go shrugged off the allegations as “rehashed and old.”
Pacquiao – who is head of Duterte’s PDP-Laban party – is also on the offensive against the President and alleged corruption taking place in several agencies under the current administration.
Duterte, however, had ignored the allegations and instead told the boxing champion to do his duty in the Senate alongside not being absent.
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While reports state that Pacquiao is planning to run for President in the 2022 elections, Trillanes has been named by the group 1Sambayan as one of its choices for either president or vice president in next year’s polls.
Duterte’s party has urged him to run for vice-president — after completing his full term as President — by being a possible running mate to his daughter, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, who is being asked to contest the presidency. (AW)
