Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte speaks during the Hakbang Maisug Leaders Forum in Davao City on January 28, 2024.
MANILA, Philippines — Will Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte be suspended from office?
Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte’s impending suspension had been confirmed by various sources.
Roque also cited media reports that the suspension order would be issued after President Marcos visited the Davao region to distribute aid to farmers and fishermen affected by the El Niño phenomenon.
Duterte had previously called for the president’s resignation but later said he wanted peace with the Marcos family.
Roque said President Duterte was at risk of being suspended for criticizing the Marcos regime.
President Duterte and his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, have also accused Marcos of being a drug addict.
“Under a dictator, criticism is forbidden,” Roque said, lamenting the ban on criticism under dictators.
“We were going to swallow the Navdol.” “We don’t have the right to speak in Hindi,” he added, saying those who supported Marcos’s presidential bid in the 2022 elections had been duped.
Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos denied Roque’s allegations as “pure hearsay.”
“As far as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is concerned, at this point, that is not true. It is false,” Abalos told The Star.
The DILG is tasked with implementing the suspension of local officials pursuant to orders of the Office of the Ombudsman or the provincial board.
“Can we ask Harry Roque where and from which department he got his information? It seems that Mr. Roque is creating confusion,” Abalos added.
Ombudsman: No cases pending against Baste
Ombudsman Samuel Martires said in a text message that there was no investigation into any cases filed against Duterte in the Office of the President.
“Mr Baste has no standing to file a complaint with the Ombudsman, so how can he be given a preventive suspension?” Martires said.
The Ombudsman may order preventive suspension for up to six months of public servants who are under investigation for alleged serious misconduct that would warrant dismissal from office if found guilty.
Preventive suspensions are typically issued by the Ombudsman when the initial evidence against an accused public servant is strong and continuing in office could adversely affect an ongoing investigation.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the Marcos regime to investigate Sebastian Duterte over drug-related killings in Davao.
The group expressed concern over President Duterte’s declaration of a new war on drugs that has left seven people dead in less than a week. Elizabeth Marcelo
