President Rodrigo Duterte’s neutrality is once again emphasized by the Malacañang, despite reports of recent tirades of the president against the media giant surfaced on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Duterte delivered a speech in Jolo, Sulu for the troops saying he could now die happy knowing that he had “dismantled” the oligarchy in the country without declaring martial law.
There was no mention of ABS-CBN in a video aired by state-run Radio Television Malacañang. However, an audio recording of the whole speech revealed that the president hurled fresh rants against the network.
“Yun namang ABS-CBN binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko kapag ako nanalo, bubuwagin ko ang oligarchy ng Pilipinas.”
[ABS-CBN defiled me. But I said if I win, I will dismantle the oligarchy in the Philippines.]
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque once again stressed that PRRD stayed neutral despite denial of ABS-CBN franchise application.
“Of course he’s neutral because the Lopezes are still up and about,” Roque said.
“I cannot be wrong. Documentary evidence shows it was Congress who actually threw out the franchise application of ABS-CBN,” Roque added.
Roque denied to comment on the reports of an audio recording of the speech as he did not attend the event in Sulu.
