President Rodrigo Duterte, in an event in Malacañang on Tuesday, revealed that he had ordered the ambush of former Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot.
“Loot, p… mo, nanalo pa na mayor. Inambush kita, animal ka, buhay pa rin!” Duterte said at the oath-taking of newly appointed government officials in Malacañang as per a report from the Philippine Star.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the statement was misconstrued and “uttered by a Bisaya President who is not proficient in Filipino.”
“Let us be clear and categorical: The president did not order the ambush of Gen. Loot. It is silly and absurd to conclude that [Duterte] is behind the ambush just because he misspeaks the Filipino language which is not his native tongue or first language,” Panelo said in a statement released Wednesday morning.
It was in May 2018 when Loot and his family were ambushed at a wharf in Daanbantayan. No one was killed in the attack but one of the nannies of the Loot family was wounded.
In 2016, Duterte tagged Loot, a former police general, and other five as “narco generals.”
The five denied Duterte’s allegations.
The President’s latest pronouncement was in contrast to his pronouncement last December where he denied involvement in the ambush of Loot and instead pointed to his 2016 presidential elections rival and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas as the one who ordered the assault.
“Loot was ambushed twice but could not be killed. I did not order the ambush. It was Roxas. Roxas ordered his ambush, not me,” Duterte said then.
