(UPDATED), 1st UPDATE. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte just threatened someone with physical assault.
Duterte yesterday slammed former senator and columnist Francisco Tatad for allegedly spreading rumors about his health. Duterte criticized Tatad during a speech at the kick-off rally of his political party聽Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas Ng Bayan in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
After railing against communists, Duterte changed the topic and “This Tatad. Just [a fine line between] press freedom and disrespecting a person. When I see you, avoid me. I will slap you.
“He made a joke, ‘Duterte has cancer,'” he said.
On聽Monday, Tatad wrote in his聽Manila Times聽column that according to two sources, on Jan 29. One source told Tatad that the alleged transplant happened at聽Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, Metro Manila.
Tatad’s other source had different information. He told him that the alleged transplant occurred on the same day at a hospital in Davao City, Duterte’s hometown.
That wasn’t the first time Tatad wrote about Duterte’s health. In a January 2017 column in the same newspaper, he alleged that to visit his doctors at the Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou. Tatad said, however, that he couldn’t confirm the veracity of that rumor.
In an interview with the TV program News To Go today, however, Tatad . He also told the president not to rely on information that was being fed to him.
In his speech, Duterte said that it was Tatad who was suffering from health problems.
“Son of a b*tch, you’re the one who has diabetes. That’s why you can’t do this anymore,” Duterte said, and he hit the microphone repeatedly with one finger.
Among Filipinos, the act of hitting at a surface with one finger is generally understood to mean having sex.
“That’s a violation of press freedom,” Duterte railed. “What you said is disrespectful. Are you married or not? Let me borrow [your wife]. You son of a b*tch.”
Duterte’s health has always been the subject of much speculation, due to his tendency to disappear from public view for days. Rumors about his ill health also spread due to his darkened complexion, which he jested in October was caused by “karma.”
Prior to聽that, Duterte said his complexion changed because he used his partner聽Honeylet聽Avance帽a’s skin cream which he said burned his聽skin.
Duterte’s threat to Tatad came after widespread criticism that the government is stifling press freedom. Duterte has聽repeatedly said in public that he would block the renewal of TV network ABS-CBN’s license when it expires in 2020.
It doesn’t end there. Journalist Maria Ressa,聽the chief executive officer聽of news website Rappler, is聽facing several tax evasion charges filed against her by the government, as well as a cyber libel charge filed against her by businessman聽Wilfredo Keng.
Duterte 听产耻迟 observers have accused the Philippine government of bending the law in order to charge Rappler, which has been critical of the Duterte administration.
In January, Duterte聽聽after it published a report that alleged his聽long-time assistant, Christopher 鈥淏ong鈥 Go, got involved in the selection of the Philippine Navy鈥檚 suppliers, a multi-billion peso project.
