Vice President Sara Duterte’s remark about exhuming the remains of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani was simply an “exaggeration,” ex-presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo explained on Monday, Oct. 21.
Vice President Sara Duterte during a sit-down interview with the media on Oct. 19, 2024 (Santi San Juan/MANILA BULLETIN)
In an interview on DZRH’s “Damdaming Bayan,” the former official of the Duterte administration said he was amused by the reaction of the Vice President’s detractors as they attacked her because they took her words “literally.”
“Yung kanyang remark is a hyperbole na tinatawag (Her remark is called a hyperbole)--an exaggeration,” he added.
He also described it as a casual talk among friends and shared that even Senator Imee Marcos, with whom Duterte told the remark about Marcos Sr. simply didn’t take the comments seriously.
"Hindi niya 'yan sinabi publicly. Nire-recount niya lang na may sinabi siya sa isang kaibigan sa kanilang group chat (She did not say that publicly. She just recounted what she had told a friend in their group chat)," he said.
“Ang ibig lang talagang sabihin ni VP Sara, ‘tantananan niyo na ako. Huwag niyo akong banatan ng banatan kasi (What VP Sara meant was to stop attacking me. Don’t keep attacking me because) I will not be sitting idly watching you assault me. I will fight back. I will give you tit for tat. I will engage you,” Panelo explained.
This was also his explanation about the Vice President’s remarks about beheading President Marcos after a graduate was allegedly embarrassed because the Chief Executive refused to give his watch as a graduation gift.
The ex-official was referring to Duterte’s press conference last Friday, wherein he assailed President Marcos for the political attacks against her.
She also shared that in one of her conversations with the President’s sister, she told her she would dig up Marcos Sr.’s remains and throw it in the West Philippine Sea.
It was Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who allowed Marcos Sr. to be buried at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.
Panelo also said that Duterte and Marcos, contrary to what they told their supporters during the 2022 campaign, were not friends so “personal offense” was just natural.
“Hindi naman sila magkakaibigan (They are not friends) in the first place. Hindi naman magkaibigan si BBM at VP Inday. Nagkaroon lang ng (BBM and VP Inday were not friends. They just had an) alliance because of convenience,” he added.