What’s the president to do now without his ever-reliable defender?
The Presidential Palace’s communications staff told reporters this morning that Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has gone on leave.
This comes just days after Duterte dashed Roque’s dreams of landing a Senate seat.
“Roque wants to be a senator. I said, ‘F*cking stop it with that. Standby, I’ll give you a different job. You won’t win’,” the president said in Filipino in a speech on Thursday.
Oof, tough boss.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said that the government plans to turn the PCOO back into the Office of the Press Secretary, the post that was offered to Roque.
Things have seemingly been rough between Roque and the administration.
On Friday, Roque hinted at possibly quitting his spokesperson position after he was kept “in the dark” about the state of Duterte’s health.
“I am inclined to believe that perhaps I am not in the position to continue with this current function,” he said in a media briefing.
Roque, once again, was under fire last week after Duterte admitted that he went to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center to undergo tests after Roque initially denied it.
The spokesperson was apparently also not informed about Duterte’s recent trip to Hong Kong as he said that the president was in Davao at the time.
Roque is known to always back Duterte up, no matter what the controversial head of state says or does. Formerly a human rights lawyer, he’s been criticized for backing the war on drugs and most of Duterte’s questionable statements.
But there may be another reason for Roque’s decision to go on leave. The filing for candidacy in next year’s mid-term elections starts on Thursday, so he could just be gearing up for that.
In the Philippines, those with appointed government positions like Roque are required to quit their post upon filing for candidacy.
He’s not the only one in Duterte’s camp who plans to run next year.
Last week, pro-Duterte blogger Mocha Uson quit her post as PCOO Assistant Secretary. Her critics rejoiced the decision, only to find out that Uson plans to run for office.
News about Roque, Uson, and other Duterte supporters running for senator have been going around since last year.
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