Sycophants may have goaded Duterte into lashing out at me –Gordon

Senator Richard Gordon on Saturday speculated that sycophants may have provoked President Rodrigo Duterte into lashing out against him after he suggested that the president's penchant for appointing retired military officers to the Cabinet was a dangerous practice.

"Hindi ko alam. Baka may nanggagatong sa presidente, o baka napapagod lang siya. Maaaring sa kapaguran nya, may nabanggit siya siguro nasasaktan siya, ginatungan," Gordon said on Metro Manila news radio station dwIZ.

"Alam nyo naman dyan, maraming nagpapalakas, magaling manggatong."

Gordon reiterated that he was not picking a fight with Duterte. Rather, he was trying to help the president succeed.

"'Di naman ako kumakampi sa presidente because kaibigan ko siya. It's a principled stand. Kung tama siya, I will support [him]. Kung walang ebidensya sa kanya, I will be brave enough to say, 'Walang ebidensya.' Kung meron, i will [say so]," the senator explained.

Gordon also made it clear that he was not looking to meet with the president to discuss their recent squabble, given that he really was not offended by Duterte's verbal assault on him.

"Minsan gagawan ka pa ng issue na di naman totoo. He (Duterte) is intelligent enough," the lawmaker elaborated. "Hindi naman siya aabot dyan kung di talaga nagsikap din yan, marunong kumilatis."

On Thursday, Duterte had called Gordon "presumptuous" for daring to criticize his Cabinet appointments, and vowed that he would thwart any plan Gordon had for higher office. — DVM, GMA News