Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he knew that President Rodrigo Duterte was not serious when he promised in 2006 to ride a jet ski to the West Philippine Sea.
“I knew it was a joke. I'm a jet skier and I knew that it was not possible,” Sotto said in a text message.
Meanwhile, detained Senator Leila de Lima slammed Duterte anew for “fooling the Filipino people” in 2016.
"Duterte's campaign in the 2016 elections was waged on pure gimmickry with no solid program of government on which to anchor his outlandish promises that's why all we can hear now are his excuses why he cannot execute,” Duterte’s staunch critic said in a statement.
“He even has the gall to call those who believe in his campaign promise as stupid. Classic Duterte! Isa siyang napakalaking joke na nangyari sa bansa na hindi nakakatawa," she added.
She hit Duterte for treating one of the most important issues of the country as a joke which she said the reason why China continues its incursions in the Philippine territory.
De Lima said Duterte’s “reckless remark” should serve as a reminder that Filipinos should choose “worthy leaders” that will prioritize common good over “selfish interest” in the 2022 national elections.
"One year from now, we will be electing a new president and set of leaders. Let us not be fooled again by politicians like Duterte who are like empty shells that have nothing to show how to fulfill their mandate to the people," she added.
In a television interview, Senator Panfilo Lacson said that Filipinos face a big problem of no longer knowing which of Duterte’s statements are jokes and which are official policies.
Duterte, in his Monday night public address, said his 2016 remark about riding a jet ski to the WPS and telling the Chinese that it belonged to the Philippines was just a campaign joke.
He also emphasized that he would have died if he sailed to Pag-asa Island, which is around 150 nautical miles from Palawan, using only a jet ski.
Critics of Duterte have been recalling his 2016 presidential debate remarks after he tagged the 2016 arbitral award, which favored the Philippines' exclusive economic zone over China's historical claims "a scrap of paper." -MDM, GMA News
This article Sotto: I knew Duterte’s jet ski campaign promise only a joke was originally published in GMA News Online.
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