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Actor Robin Padilla on Monday, June 1, offered to be the campaign manager of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte if latter decides to run for President in 2016.
“Si Duterte po ang susuportahan ko,” Padilla said. “We are a sick nation, we are a sick people, we need a sick leader, itutulak na namin siya.”
When asked how he will support Duterte, the actor answered, “kahit ako maging campaign manager niya.”
Padilla, who was the lower House to show support for the Bangsamoro Basic Law, said he and Duterte have long talked about the issue.
Duterte earlier said he is considering running for President in 2016 after being fed up with the criticisms being thrown at him.
“This is the first time that I have mentioned the possibility of being the president,” Duterte said in an interview. “Then let me also have a taste of how you can handle people when you are in power not to harass but legally.”
Duterte said he is praying for “enlightenment”and that he might run for higher office if enough people like Justice Secretary Leila De Lima and former Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Etta Rosales actually campaign against him.
“I’ve always said that God will somehow enlighten me. I’ve been asking, I’ve been praying: ‘God, I do not like it. I do not need it. Pag ginusto mo, you give me a cause to do it.’ Pero ito ngayon, well I am thinking about it, really. Pinag-iisipan ko na, na kung may sampung, o 100 people like De Lima campaigning for me, and Etta Rosales, (expletive) mananalo ako niyan. Mananalo ako! Etta Rosales and De Lima will provide the edge,” he said.
The tough-talking mayor had been consistent about his position not to run for any national post in the 2016 national elections.
This week, Duterte landed in the headlines after admitting links with the “Davao Death Squad”, the group allegedly responsible for summary executions of criminals in his city.
The mayor later retracted his admission and said he was referring to the Davao Development System.
Human Rights Watch earlier denounced the more than 1,000 killings committed by the Davao Death Squad since the late 1990s. Police and local government officials were reported to be involved in the targeted killings of alleged drug dealers and petty criminals, street children and others.
De Lima said Duterte must be held criminally liable for admitting his links with the notorious vigilante group. “Killing is killing, no matter what; and therefore, if ina-admit niya na he is responsible for these killings, then he should be held criminally liable,” she said.
Meanwhile, former CHR chairperson Etta Rosales criticized Duterte’s statements and warned the public against voting for Duterte in 2016.
“If the guy believes what he says, he’s gonna bring us back to martial law days, do we want that?” she asked in an ANC interview.
She added: “Mayor Duterte do you not believe in the Edsa revolution? In democracy and justice? You answer me that. If you do not believe, and you intend to do with your extra-judicial killings, then I think we should campaign against you.”
Text: Ron Gagalac, ABS-CBN News
Photo: Atty. Glen A. Pangapalan (Instagram)
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
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