Duterte denies calling Marcos drug addict

After challenging President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to take a drug test, former President Rodrigo Duterte is now denying that he accused his successor of being into illegal drugs. 

“Wala ako sinabi na ganon… Even if you kill me a thousand times, wala akong sinabi na ganon. Make it ‘taking a drug.’ Pero kung sabihin mong addict, wala akong sinabi na ganon. Patayin ako ni Marcos niyan. Maawa ka naman sa akin, matanda na ako,” Duterte said in a press conference on Tuesday night. 

(I did not say that. Even if you kill me a thousand times, I did not say that he is a drug addict. Make it ‘taking a drug.’ Marcos will kill me for that. Have mercy on me, I am old.) 

“If I can say it to Marcos, I can say it for all. Antibiotic, aspirin—they’re all drugs… Pero wala ako sinabi… Papatayin ako ni Marcos niyan. Takot pa naman ako mamatay, matanda na ako,” he added. 

(I did not say he’s an addict. Marcos might kill me. I’m afraid to die because I’m already old.) 

It was in January when Duterte called Marcos “bangag” (high on illegal drugs) during a prayer rally in Davao City.

Duterte claimed that Marcos was on the watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) — a claim already denied by PDEA.

“Si Bongbong, bangag iyan. That’s why sinasabi ko na sa inyo ngayon, si Bongbong Marcos bangag noon, ngayong presidente na, bangag ang ating presidente. Kayong mga military, alam ninyo ‘yan. Lalo na ‘yung nasa Malacañang. Alam ninyo. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, alam ninyo. May drug addict tayo na presidente,” Duterte earlier said during the event.

Marcos, in response, has laughed off the accusation, saying it must be the effect of fentanyl, a drug Duterte has admitted to taking during his term as president. 

“I think it’s the fentanyl… It is highly addictive and it has very serious side effects. And PRRD [President Rodrigo D. Duterte] has been taking the drug for a very long time now. When was the last time he told us that he was taking fentanyl? Something like that. After five, six years it has to affect him,” Marcos told reporters. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News