Palace says it's up to voters to decide if honesty is an election issue

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is leaving it to voters to decide whether honesty is an election issue after presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio drew flak for a remark about candidates who lie.

Duterte-Carpio has claimed that there is no candidate who does not lie as she was reacting to allegations that some of the candidates of her party Hugpong ng Pagbabago are dishonest. 

She said opposition senatorial candidate and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano had lied when he claimed that state funds were spent in campaign t-shirts of former presidential aide Christopher "Bong" Go. 

"Sinasabi ko, sa kanilang lahat, walang isang kandidato d’yan na hindi nagsisinungaling kaya hindi dapat nagiging issue ang honesty ngayon (I tell you, there is no candidate who does not lie so honesty should not be an issue now)," the presidential daughter said in a Hugpong campaign rally last Wednesday in Parañaque.

READ: Sara Duterte responds to criticism over Imee Marcos’ degree: Everyone’s a liar

Panelo: I have no opinion

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo refused to react to the statement of Duterte-Carpio, saying he is prohibited from saying anything that may be viewed as favoring or campaigning against a candidate. 

"I have no opinion on that simply because I am not a candidate. As a voter, I will have to exercise my own judgment whether honesty will be a part of my choice," Panelo said in a press briefing Thursday. 

READ: Honesty an election issue? Panelo evades question, invokes right against self-incrimination

Panelo evaded questions on whether a candidate should be honest, saying he has the right against "self-incrimination." He said it would be up to voters to decide whether honesty is an issue to them. 

"In other words, I’m saying that honesty as an issue depends on the voter himself or herself. If he or she will consider that. As far as Mayor Sara is concerned, that's not an issue," he said. 

READ: Diokno on Sara Duterte’s ‘everyone lies’ statement: ‘Panay palusot’

Panelo claimed one could not say whether a candidate is honest unless he has "personal dealings" with the politician. 

"Strictly speaking, you cannot consider a candidate honest or not unless you have personally dealt with him or her," the presidential spokesman said. 

"You need to have personal experience. That's why Mayor Sara can say let's not talk about it. How will you know? I’ll ask you: How will you know that a man or a candidate is honest or not?" he added. 

Duterte's view?

Asked whether honesty is important to President Rodrigo Duterte, Panelo replied: "I will have to ask him that."

Pressed why it was difficult for Malacañang to answer whether honesty is an election issue, the presidential spokesman said: "I will have to ask the president because I don’t know exactly his position vis-à-vis the issue raised by Mayor Sara."

Panelo was also cautious when asked whether he thought a government official, whether elected or not, should be honest. 

"It depends on the appointing power, whether he will consider that or not," he said. 

Panelo claimed having a bad record does not necessarily mean that an official is not honest. But he described people who lie about their educational attainment as "fraud."