PRRD not ‘harassing’ ex-Pres. Aquino: Palace

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – Malacanang on Friday said nobody is “harassing” former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, not even his successor, President Rodrigo Duterte.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this reaction after Aquino described the electioneering charges filed against him before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as a “form of harassment”.

“No one has harassed him, because the President’s position is to let the investigation to go on,” Roque said a Mindavote Live interview in Davao City.

Aquino and former Cabinet officials have been accused of violating the election code since the controversial PHP3.5 billion Dengvaxia vaccination program’s supposed implementation at the height of the 2016 election campaign.

On Thursday, Aquino sought the junking of the complaint which he said was “based on imagination and wrong intention”.

Roque said Duterte never spoke against Aquino on the Dengvaxia controversy.

“If at all, the President (Duterte) said, I would have probably done the same thing. So who is harassing him? Not the President,” Roque said.

“The President has always been level-headed. Let the investigation proceeds, and we will act after the investigation,” he added.

Roque said Malacanang will leave the complaint against Aquino to the Comelec “that has supervision and control over all election-related activities.”