Palace: Ex-Pres. Duterte's latest tirades vs Marcos 'baseless, ridiculous'

Malacañang on Sunday dismissed the latest accusations to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. by his predecessor former President Rodrigo Duterte as merely a “tall tale” from a “tyrant who did not respect the rights of the people.”

This, as Duterte on Saturday claimed that Marcos might not cede power when his term ends in 2028, and might impose martial law like his late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., to guarantee a no-election situation and extend his stay in Malacañang.

“Si Inday, gusto nilang tanggalin. Pamumulitika ba. Dahil pagkatapos kay Marcos, kung mananalo sila kung hindi siya diktador, may ipapalit sa kanya,” the former president said in a report that aired on “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

“Wala silang ipapalit kung makakalaban si Inday kasi walang talagang talo si Inday. Ngayon pa lang gusto nilang pilayan para okay sa kanila, he added.

(They want to remove Vice President Sara Duterte. It’s politics. After Marcos’ term is finished, if they win and he is not a dictator, someone will replace him. However, their bet will be lost against Sara so they want to cut her off as early as possible.)

In response, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said that Duterte’s claim was just another “budol” or deception “emerging from a one-man fake-news factory.”

“We treat the former president’s baseless and ridiculous statements in the same way that Filipinos are dismissive of them: a tall tale from a man prone to lying and to inventing hoaxes,” Bersamin said in a statement.

“It is the leader of that troubled past who is depicting us as veering toward a system where anyone can be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, as many had been on his mere say-so as a tyrant who did not respect the rights of the people,” he added.

Duterte made the accusation during an indignation rally in Mandaue City, Cebu on Saturday, which was attended by some PDP Laban bets and supporters of the Duterte family.

GMA News Online reached out to the camp of Duterte to get their comment and will update this article when they issue a statement.

The elder Marcos declared martial law in September 1972 and remained in office until the EDSA People Power Revolution forced him and his family to leave the country in February 1986. —with a report by Mariel Celine Serquiña/KG/BM, GMA Integrated News