DAVAO CITY – Former President Rodrigo Duterte said that the Hakbang sa Maisug has nothing to do with the release of the alleged video showing a man resembling President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. using illegal drugs hours before the State-of-the-Nation Address on Monday, July 22.
“The Hakbang ng Maisug national leadership has nothing to do with the release of the video footage showing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the act of snorting cocaine in Maisug gatherings in Canada and the USA,” Duterte said on Tuesday, July 23, about the "polvoron" video.
Duterte said the video circulating on various social media platforms was made by the Maisug “volunteers” in the two places without the knowledge and imprimatur of the Maisug organizing committee.
“The members of the Maisug leadership were just as surprised as the rest of the country when they saw the video for the first time,” Duterte said.
According to the former Chief Executive, the Marcos administration swiftly challenged the authenticity of the video, calling it an “obviously fake video” and a “malicious crude attempt to destabilize the administration.”
Duterte emphasized that the Marcos administration’s feeble attempt to dismiss the video by simple denial reinforces the simmering suspicion of the incumbent President’s drug addiction. He said any lawyer knows that denial is the weakest form of defense.
“Even the ordinary man on the street knows that the best way to put the issue to rest is for President Marcos to undergo a hair follicle drug test. When undertaken by a credible drug testing center, a negative result would erase all doubts once and for all,” he said.
Duterte criticized Marcos’s feigned laughter, feeble denial, and complete silence as his response instead of taking a drug test. He said a drug user for a President is no laughing matter, and he should be the first one to know that.
He added that at a critical juncture in the nation’s history, when he threatened to send the country’s soldiers to war, the President’s drug habit posed a clear and present danger.
“With due apologies to all the experts who vouched for the authenticity of the video, the refusal of President Marcos to undergo the hair follicle drug test is the best proof not only of the video’s authenticity but, worse, his drug addiction,” Duterte said.
He said the denial issued by the Department of National Defense (DND) is a slap in the face of every patriotic and honorable soldier who lives by the military’s highest code of conduct.
Duterte added that it is bad enough that the DND has to do the dirty job of issuing the denial, and it is worse that in doing so, it has become a party to a despicable act it should have been fighting against in the first place.
The former Chief Executive questioned the mainstream media, which was once the most unrestrained press in Asia, that instead of confronting Marcos on the issue, it chose to look the other way.
He criticized the Senate and Congress for allegedly supporting Marcos amid the moral and legal crisis. Duterte said they had the chance to be on the right side of history but just wasted it.
“By this act of showing in public what had been long whispered in private, the men and women of Maisug have proven themselves worthy to be called Filipinos,” Duterte said.
He said the Maisug have exposed themselves to danger and harm, but they are ready to make the sacrifices to rid this country of a head of state that is an embarrassment worldwide.
Duterte stressed that the next few days will be crucial to every Filipino and the nation. He said it would require every citizen to decide whether to be part of those who seek the truth and those involved in the coverup.
“It is a choice between standing up and demanding that this country enforce the law without fear or favor or hiding in fear and self-preservation. It will not be an easy choice. Either way, it will define us individually and as a people,” he said.
Duterte also said that staying neutral is a vote of confidence for an administration with no compunction. He added that whatever that decision and choice may be, the consequences will remain with the people.