The New York Times has launched a “demolition job” against President Duterte as part of a well-funded attempt by his political opponents to overthrow him from power, Malacañang said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella raised the alleged link of one of America’s biggest news outlets to the ouster plot after questioning the release of a documentary and two articles unfairly criticizing the President’s drug war “in a span of one week.”
“NYT’s very obvious demolition work flies in the face of the very high approval of PPRD enjoys. The newspaper tries to stir global outrage in a nation that welcomes its newfound peace and order,” Abella said.
“One can only conclude that certain personalities and politicians have mounted a well funded campaign utilizing hack writers and their ilk in their bid to oust PRRD,” he said.
Abella bristled at the Times’ latest documentary titled “When a President Says, “I’ll Kill You,” that featured controversial rise of drug-related killings in the country. He pointed out that such documentary zeroed in on the “vigilante deaths” that occurred under the present administration.
The Times’ editorial “Accountability for Duterte” also did not sit well with Malacañang.
Abella said the editorial featured two critics – Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano and Jude Sabio, lawyer of self-confessed Davao Death Squad member Edgar Matobato – “mouthing unsubstantiated claims” against the President.
Abella also criticized the Times for its news feature, “Becoming Duterte: The Making of a Philippine Strongman” that narrated the rise to power of the President “under the context of violence.” He earlier dismissed the Times article as “a well paid hack job for well-heeled clients with shady motives.”
Malacañang, however, remained unfazed by such demolition work against the President.
“The administration will not be deterred in fulfilling its promise of building a progressive and inclusive nation free from drugs, crimes and corruption,” Abella said.
The President, a tough-talking former mayor of Davao City, has waged a brutal war on illegal drugs and crimes since he assumed office last June. The soaring death toll linked to anti-drug campaign, however, drew protests from human rights advocates here and abroad. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)