Viral Mayor Duterte training video, old reposted, says Davao City information officer
By Ivy Tejano
ACTING Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte (FB)
A viral video showing acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte apparently training for an anticipated boxing charity match against Philippine National Police chief Police Gen. Nicolas Torre III is an old video, City Information Office head Harvey James Lanticse said.
Lanticse said that Mayor Duterte’s boxing video that circulated on social media on Wednesday night, July 23, was not recent and had previously been shared online.
The video went viral on social media but posters did not include details on when or where the footage was taken and who recorded it.
“It was an old video that resurfaced,” Lanticse told Manila Bulletin.
Hours later after it was uploaded, another video showing Torre training for the event at the Camp Crame gym in Quezon City on Thursday, July 24, surfaced online.
Torre told reporters in a July 23 interview that he was ready to go 12 rounds in response to Mayor Duterte’s fistfight challenge on social media.
He accepted the challenge and proposed turning the bout into a charity event benefiting victims of the ‘’habagat’’ or southwest monsoon onslaught.
Mayor Duterte’s challenge to Torre was a move believed to be in reaction to the PNP chief’s role in the arrest of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, earlier this year.
He publicly questioned Torre’s leadership as PNP chief and his rapid promotion to the post, raising concerns over whether it was earned by merit or political influence.
Mayor Duterte called Torre a coward and said his strength only comes from his post. He dared Torre to continue alleged harassment, emphasizing his readiness to fight back, even swaying at the general’s supposed reliance on rank.