DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte warned those behind the “Totoong Narco List” videos to lay off his children, especially his daughter 14-year-old Veronica or Kitty.
The President said he would retaliate against those behind what he described as black propaganda against him and his family.
“Just wait,” Duterte said during the campaign of the administration Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan last Tuesday.
Duterte said those claiming to be advocates of human rights are behind the black propaganda against his children Paolo and Sara and her husband Manases Carpio as well as his partner Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña and their daughter Kitty.
“Human rights, son of a b****. Human rights, kayong mga black propaganda. Pati ‘yang anak kong si Veronica, 14 years old drug addict? May ipalabas ako (You call my 14-year-old daughter Veronica a drug addict. I will expose you),” the President said.
Bikoy, the narrator in the videos, alleged that Honeylet was receiving money from drug syndicates through bank accounts in the name of Kitty.
Honeylet cried foul over the mention of Kitty.
The President said he has friends in other countries who helped him keep track of how and when the “Totoong Narco List” series was done.
He vowed to reveal those behind the propaganda.
“What you did not know is that you were being listened to habang ginagawa ninyo ‘yang kalokohan ninyo. Ilabas ko ‘yan in a few days. Pine-perfect ko lang ang ano… (What you did not know is that you were being listened to while you were engaged in wrongdoing. I will expose everything in a few days. I am just perfecting the…),” the President added.
“It was an intelligence report, not from us but from another country,” he added.
Police slams suspect
For his part, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde yesterday hit back at the person behind the “Totoong Narco List” videos for implicating the President’s youngest child in the illegal drug trade.
Albayalde said Kitty should be spared from attacks.
“That’s very unfortunate with the 14-year-old. We should spare the children here,” he said in an interview over CNN Philippines.
Albayalde found it unbelievable that Duterte’s youngest child could have benefited from the alleged drug transactions.
“How can you expect that to be true? I think that’s totally false,” he said.
Albayalde questioned the timing of the videos’ release with less than a month before the midterm elections on May 13.
“As I see it, the timing is highly questionable. This is election time,” he said.
Albayalde described Bikoy’s allegations as self-serving and scripted, noting that anybody can make accusations through the different social media platforms available on the internet.
He said the efforts are underway to unmask and track down Bikoy.
But Albayalde admitted that there should be a complainant before charges can be filed against Duterte’s unnamed accuser.
“There has to be complainant because specific persons have been targeted,” Albayalde said.
Holy Week
President Duterte is spending the remainder of Holy Week here.
But he was scheduled to attend the PDP-Laban rally in Batangas City yesterday before his homecoming.
Duterte has always stayed home for the Holy Week even when he was mayor here for 23 years.
“As far as I know, he’s staying home,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said yesterday at a press briefing in Malacañang.
The President is expected to rest before embarking on a trip to Beijing to attend the second Belt and Road Forum where he might conduct bilateral talks with China’s President Xi Jinping. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Alexis Romero