President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday did not hesitate to name drop Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and call him out for allegedly defending the Lopez family following the shutdown of ABS-CBN.
In his fifth State of the Nation Address held at the Batasang Pambansa, Duterte said that Drilon is one of those opportunists supposedly taking advantage of a “preoccupied government” amid the pandemic.
“While government focuses its attention on the coronavirus, there are those who take advantage of the preoccupied government,” Duterte said in the very first part of his speech.
“One of them is Senator Frank Drilon. In an interview, he arrogantly mentioned among others that oligarchs need not be rich.”
“Then he linked the anti-dynasty system with oligarchy, and the topic was my daughter and son… Obviously, he was defending the Lopezes, that they are not oligarchs,” he added. The Lopezes are majority owners of the publicly-listed media company.
Duterte also lamented that he was one of the a “casualty” of the Lopezes since 2016— or when he first ran for president.
To recall, the Malacañang repeatedly insisted Duterte’s neutrality in the denial of franchise of ABS-CBN, saying that it is within the Congress’ prerogative and not him.
“Media is a powerful tool in the hands of oligarchs like the Lopezes who use their media outlets in their battles with political figures,” Duterte said.
ABS-CBN stopped its operations in early May, following the expiration of its franchise. Upon the denial of franchise renewal by the Congress, the network continues to deliver news and content through limited platforms available to them.
