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‘Clown’ Aguirre wanted to ‘hype up terrorist scare’ —De Lima


Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s attempt to link several opposition lawmakers to the Maute group’s attack in Marawi City was meant to “hype up the terrorist scare,” Senator Leila de Lima said Friday, as she referred to the Cabinet official as a “clown of this administration.”

In a statement, De Lima said the objective of Aguirre’s earlier accusation against Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, sought to “discredit the opposition’s anti-martial law call.”

“Aguirre's reputation as the clown of this Administration has been further solidified with his bungling accusation linking members of the opposition to the Maute siege of Marawi,” De Lima said.

“The objective of the fake news preceded any verification of the facts, which is to discredit the opposition's anti-martial law call as a pro-Maute and pro-terrorist position,” she added.

De Lima thinks that by targeting the opposition, the Duterte administration will be “emboldened” to expand martial law nationwide. Duterte had imposed martial law in Mindanao last month following the attacks in Marawi City.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Aguirre alleged that Aquino, Trillanes, Alejano, and former Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas met with certain political families and local leaders in Marawi City on May 2.

He said then that the meeting could have “sparked the terroristic acts in Marawi."

By Wednesday night, Aguirre retracted his statements, claiming he was misquoted by the media.

"What I said was that there were reports that some opposition senators and leaders went to Marawi to recruit local politicians and warlords to destabilize the Duterte administration," Aguirre said.

De Lima, however, believes that Aguirre’s blunder was more like a “calculated step.”

“[He wanted] to hype up the terrorist scare by painting a picture of a malevolent conspiracy behind the Marawi crisis involving prominent members of the opposition,” she said.

“This operation is now working overtime to deodorize martial law and to link those who oppose it to the Maute group or ISIS. Fortunately, so far, not every garbage churned out by Aguirre and Malacañang's propaganda machine is successful in deceiving our people,” De Lima said. —KG, GMA News

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