DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has decided to no longer hold press conferences – for now, anyway – following the recent controversies with the media.
Christopher Go, Duterte’s executive assistant, made the announcement last night.
Go said that all the statements of the president-elect would henceforth be made through state-owned television network PTV4.
The move is reportedly aimed at making sure that there would no longer be any wrong interpretation of Duterte’s statements.
The camp of Duterte has been complaining that the statements of the president-elect have been taken out of context by the media.
Duterte has been criticized heavily for his recent statement on media killings and his apparent catcalling of a female reporter in a press conference last Tuesday.
It could not be ascertained if the program on PTV4 would have the same format as that of his weekly “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” TV program here in Davao City where he is interviewed by an anchor on certain issues.
International media groups have been urging local journalists to boycott the press conferences of the president-elect.
In response to foreign media groups critical of him, Duterte even hit out at the United Nations, saying, “That’s the trouble here, they’re always raising fears about this or that United Nations convention. You can’t even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn’t even lift a finger in Africa ... shut up all of you.”