By CARLO ANOLIN
For Hidilyn Diaz, what matters now is the peace of mind she attained after bagging the country’s first gold medal in the Olympics.
Moving on from past adversities, Diaz, the first Filipino to capture gold medal, said she doesn’t need any apology from former Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo and any government officials involved in tagging her at the infamous matrix back in May 2019.
“For me now, hindi na [kailangan ng apology]. Para sa akin, okay lang kasi at the end of the day, mas kailangan ko ‘yong peace of mind ko,” Diaz told Karen Davila in ANC’s Hot Copy Thursday, July 29. “As long as nag-moving forward ako at nagawa ko nang maayos at na-serve at ni-represent ko ang Pilipinas, masaya ako.”
Diaz, in an interview with ONE Sports’ correspondent Gretchen Ho right after winning the prestigious event, also cited the matrix issue as one of the many struggles she encountered heading into her Tokyo Olympic campaign.
It would be recalled that the 30-year-old weightlifter from Zamboanga City was included in the matrix of personalities allegedly conspiring to overthrow President Duterte.
The said matrix was presented by Panelo and Diaz had denied early on any involvement.
Panelo recently belied the allegations anew that he linked the prized athlete in the ouster plot and apologized to Diaz for the caused pain.
The former Palace spokesperson, however, said her pain was “misplaced” as he stated in an interview with Karmina Constantino on ANC.
Malacañang earlier congratulated Diaz for the feat while the Filipina weightlifting gold medalist recently attended a virtual courtesy call with President Duterte and several government officials.