Cookies, not an expensive watch.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this clarification Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 5, regarding President Duterte's purchase at an upscale mall in Makati City over the weekend after Senator Richard Gordon made unsavory insinuations about it.

In a statement, Roque confirmed that Duterte "made a sidetrip to a mall" after accompanying Senator Christopher “Bong” Go in the latter’s filing of his certificate of candidacy (COC) for vice president last Saturday, Oct. 2.

"However, this was tainted with malice from an expected critic who relishes on putting the Chief Executive in a bad light," Roque said.

"President Duterte went around personally checking how businesses are faring with the re-opening of industries and the economy. PRRD (Duterte) stayed for a few minutes and bought cookies – not a high-end watch, as one senator maliciously implied. The President has worked tirelessly during this pandemic and will spend the remaining days of his term guiding the country towards post-COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) recovery," noted the Palace mouthpiece.

An addendum statement sent by Roque that same afternoon bared that the mall trip was "unplanned" and that the President "said that he felt like a normal citizen who could go on malling, dine outside, and probably visit old friends and acquaintances". Duterte had declared right after Go's COC filing that he would retire from politics.

"The President passed by stores selling high-end watches inside the mall. This was purely by chance since the watch stores are situated near the entrance of the mall," Roque said.

"The President, however, did not purchase any watch but he went inside because he personally knew the tindera (seller) selling those watches. They are his amiga (friends) since he was still a mayor 15 years ago and had a few minutes of conversation," he added.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, is Duterte’s favorite punching bag, especially during the latter's late night public briefings.

The veteran lawmaker earned Duterte’s ire for the way he has conducted the Blue Ribbon panel's investigation on the government's purchase of alleged overpriced coronavirus disease (COVID-19) supplies in 2020. The Chief Executive has called the hearings a waste of time and described Gordon as a "despot".

But Gordon has also been firing back, like on the issue of Duterte and Go's mall trip.

"Yung Presidente at si Secretary Bong Go matapos silang mag-file ng candidacy hindi ko maintindihan bakit sila nagpunta sa isang gusali na nagtitinda ng mamahaling relo, isang mamahalin na department store (I don't know why but after the filing of candidacy, the President and Secretary Bong Go went to a building where expensive watches are sold, a high-end department store)," he said. Note that Gordon did not refer to his colleague as "senator."

"Wala na ba tayong mga budhi mga kaibigan? Hindi ba natin nalalaman nahihirapan ang mga tao pupunta pa tayo sa lugar na mararangya ang nakakabili lang ay talagang may pera hindi natin alam kung saan galing (Have we no shame anymore my friends? Aren't we aware that the people are suffering, and we still go to a luxurious place where only the rich can make purchases with money that we don't know the source of)," Gordon said.

"The President prides himself in wearing inexpensive watches. The President reckons it is probably Senator Richard Gordon who has a collection given that he owes the Philippine government P86 million," Roque said, referring to the "disallowed" funds that the Commission on Audit (COA) cited during his days as Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman.