Duterte: Hindi ako bata ni Marcos

The late dictator's daughter may only be one of two governors that supported him during the elections but President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday stressed that he was not a lackey of Ferdinand Marcos.

"Ang suporta ko lang dito Imee Marcos. Pero hindi ako bata ni Marcos, ah," Duterte said in before a community drugwatch group in Angeles City, Pampanga.

"Ang tatay ko governor ng Davao noon. When Marcos then won for the first time, he took in my father as one of his Cabinet member. Iyan ang ano diyan," Duterte said.

"Eh sila [bugok], sulat nang sulat lang. 'Bata ni Marcos.' Hindi ako bata, kaya lang out of alliances," he added.

Duterte made the same remark during the Christmas party in Malacañang on Tuesday night. He said that he used to attend rallies against the Marcos regime.

"I used to participate in the demonstrations there. When my father knew about it, because he was a Cabinet member of the first years of Marcos, he called me there and said, 'If you do not stop, I will resign,'" Duterte said. 

"Kaya ako nahinto, sabi ng tatay ko, do not put me in a very compromising--I respect your belief, but at least show a little bit of--diyan tinatawag ako, sumasali ako doon. He was a Cabinet member, Secretary of General Services, ang tatay ko first term of Marcos," he added.

He added that it was his only link to the late dictator, which he allowed to be buried in Libingan ng mga Bayani, despite opposition from various groups, including his allies in the Left.

"But that’s only my link with them. Sabihin ko, ako Marcos boy gagawain ko sila," Duterte said.

"I never bowed to anybody politically. Every elections sila iyong pumupunta sa Davao. Lahat humihingi ng tulong sa akin," he added. —NB, GMA News