{"id":205083,"date":"2019-03-04T06:30:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T11:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=205083"},"modified":"2019-03-04T06:30:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T11:30:27","slug":"prrd-can-also-campaign-against-poll-bets-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/03\/04\/prrd-can-also-campaign-against-poll-bets-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD can also campaign against poll bets: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte raises the hands of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) candidates and several senatorial aspirants who do not belong to the ruling party at the PDP-Laban campaign sortie in Zamboanga City on March 3, 2019. (Robinson Ni\u00f1al\/Presidential Photo via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte can campaign for or against particular senatorial bets in the mid-term elections this May, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo explained this after Duterte lashed out at the Otso Diretso slate during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino\u2013Lakas ng Bayan campaign rally in Zamboanga City on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must remember that the President has his own candidates. And under the law, he can endorse or campaign against. So there is nothing wrong, as far as I am concerned, he is doing his feel,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng feel niya hindi karapat-dapat itong mga kalaban ng kandidato niya, ano namang masama doon, eh lahat naman, eh kung iyong mga senador sa kabila, binabanatan diyan siya, ganoon talaga ang eleksyon<\/em>\u00a0(If he feels that the opponents of his candidates are undeserving, what\u2019s wrong about it, other senators in the opposition are also attacking him, that\u2019s part of the elections),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Otso Diretso is composed of candidates of the political opposition namely Magdalo partylist Rep. Gary Alejano, reelectionist Sen. Paolo Benigno \u201cBam\u201d Aquino IV, lawyer Jose Manuel \u201cChel\u201d Diokno, and Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc.<\/p>\n

Other members of the opposition slate are former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, lawyer Romulo Macalintal, former Interior Secretary Manuel \u201cMar\u201d Roxas II and former Quezon Rep. Lorenzo \u201cErin\u201d Ta\u00f1ada III.<\/p>\n

Panelo also dismissed rumors that attacking the political opposition is part of the President\u2019s strategy to help his personal bets win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala namang strategy si Presidente. Hindi n\u2019yo ba napapansin<\/em>\u00a0(He doesn\u2019t have a strategy. Don\u2019t you notice), he is a very frank person,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

The Spokesperson, meanwhile, clarified that Duterte\u2019s remark about Otso Diretso going \u201cstraight to hell\u201d was just a joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlam mo naman iyon, palagi naman nagpapatawa iyon pagdating diyan sa mga ganyan eh<\/em>\u00a0(You know him, he always tries to crack jokes when it comes to situations like that),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Duterte is endorsing five senate bets from PDP-Laban namely former Philippine National Police and Bureau of Corrections chief Roland \u201cBato\u201d dela Rosa, former Special Assistant to the President Christopher \u201cBong\u201d Go, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, PDP-Laban President and reelectionist senator Aquilino \u201cKoko\u201d Pimentel III, and former Presidential Political Adviser Francis Tolentino.<\/p>\n

He is also endorsing folk singer Freddie Aguilar, former Interior Sec. Rafael \u201cRaffy\u201d Alunan, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and reelectionist senators Juan Edgardo \u201cSonny\u201d Angara, Joseph Victor \u201cJV\u201d Ejercito and Cynthia Villar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte can campaign for or against particular senatorial bets in the mid-term elections this May, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":205084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}