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Insults show Duterte in 'panic mode' over procurement probe, Lacson says


Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the insults hurled against him by President Rodrigo Duterte only shows that the latter is in panic mode over the Senate’s investigation on the overpriced face shields and face masks.

“It is not difficult to think that he is in panic mode and is attempting, as he has already done earlier, to discourage the Senate from pursuing our investigation in the highly anomalous procurement of overpriced medical supplies that is starting to knock on the doors of Malacañang,” Lacson said in a press statement.

He also said the video showing Michael Yang, a Chinese national who had a signed contract as a presidential consultant, receiving a one-peso-a-year remuneration from the government and very casually introducing high officials of the controversial Pharmally Corp. is telling to say the least.

In the last Blue Ribbon committee hearing, Gordon had shown a file RTVM video of Yang having a meeting with Duterte.

In a taped public address aired Tuesday morning, Duterte has defended Yang, saying the Chinese businessman has been conducting business in the country for around two decades.

He also advised the public not to re-elect congressmen and senators who are allegedly using their position to “show off" their knowledge.

Duterte slammed Senator Richard Gordon over what he claims is the senator’s seven-hour “talkathon” in the last Senate blue ribbon committee investigation into the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies.

He also tagged Gordon as a  German interrogator from the Nazi and told the senator to lose weight.

Duterte likewise hit Lacson, even noticing the latter’s hairstyle.

He also questioned Lacson’s integrity, saying he will reveal an information in his next public address.

"To be honest, really, tanungin ko si Panfilo Lacson. Are you honest? Answer me truthfully. Are you honest? Kay kung magsabi ka ng ‘yes’ sasagutin kita next program may ipakita ako,” the President said.

“You do not have the ascendancy to question the Executive’s prerogative. Of course I will appoint people I know and trust just like other presidents before me,” he went on.

Lacson said he does not know what the President is talking about when he commented on his hairstyle.

“I haven’t changed the way I comb my hair, since long before he had lost his mind. But his insulting rebuke only shows that he and Sen. Bong Go are one and the same, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. They even probably have a joint bank account,” he said.

He even said that many people he talked to have noticed Duterte’s “incoherence and senseless ad libs even in his formal addresses to the nation including the State of the Nation Address (SONA).”

Lacson said despite the insults, the Senate “will not flinch on this one.”

“There is a lot more to discover and pursue so that all those responsible for this abominable crime against the Filipino people who continue to suffer amid the pandemic will be exposed and charged in court at the proper time,” he said.—AOL, GMA News

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