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Duterte’s claim on oligarchy issue ‘gawa-gawa lang,’ says Kiko Pangilinan

By DONA MAGSINO,GMA News

President Rodrigo Duterte's claim that he took down oligarchs in the Philippines is fictitious and only meant to divert the attention of the public from the administration's failure to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan said Tuesday.

"COVID, gutom at kawalan ng trabaho ng milyun-milyon nating mga kababayan ang problema hindi itong mga oligarchs, kuno," Pangilinan, an opposition senator, said on Twitter.

"Gawa-gawa lang 'yang problema ng mga oligarchs. Walang kinalaman ang pagsasara ng ABS-CBN sa matinding problema dulot ng COVID," he added.

 

 

He claimed that the problem of oligarchy was just made up to distract the public and mask the truth that the government has not yielded any good result from the country's fight against the pandemic.

While addressing troops in Sulu, Duterte boasted that he dismantled oligarchy in the country without declaring martial law.

“Kung mamatay ako, mahulog eroplano, p***ngina, I am very happy. Alam mo [kung] bakit? Without declaring martial law, I dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy of the Philippines,” Duterte said.

“Without declaring martial law, sinira ko iyang mga tao na humahawak sa ekonomiya, hindi nagbabayad [ng tax]. They take advantage of their political power every election. Isang kuwarto lang iyan, nag-uusap, 'Sinong kandidato natin ngayon?' Isang pamilya lang nag-uusap,” he added.

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His remarks came days after the House of Representatives junked the ABS-CBN Corporation's franchise application. In previous years, Duterte threatened to block the renewal of the broadcast networks franchise as he expressed grievances over his unaired political campaign ads in 2016.

The President, however, did not mention if he was referring to the Lopez family, who owns ABS-CBN.

Later, Malacañang, which has maintained that Duterte was neutral on the issue of ABS-CBN's franchise, said the President was referring to oligarchs he has personally dealt with such as Lucio Tan whom the former pressed to pay for Philippine Airlines Inc.'s unpaid airport charges, and the owners of water concessionaires whom Duterte asked to have "fair" contracts with.

“Ito naman pong kaso ng ABS-CBN ay kaso na nag-expire ang prangkisa at hindi po na-renew ng Kongreso,“ presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said. — RSJ, GMA News