Press Release
March 10, 2019

Duterte is No. 1 Marcos troll -De Lima

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has called Mr. Duterte the "No. 1 Marcos troll" for constantly peddling disinformation about the Marcoses' supposed innocence from amassing billions of ill-gotten wealth while in office.

De Lima, a human rights and social justice champion, said Mr. Duterte's anti-corruption stance is proven as a "hoax" as he tirelessly defends the Marcos family against corruption anomalies.

"Only someone raised on Marcos-sponsored fake news and historical revisionism in social media believes that the Marcoses are innocent. But Duterte is too old to be fooled by the Marcos social media propaganda machine," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 478.

"Duterte is a denier of the Marcos plunder not because he believes the Marcoses are innocent. He is a Marcos plunder-denier because he has chosen to become part of their propaganda machine by spewing the same fake news shared in social media. Duterte is now the No. 1 Marcos troll," she added.

In his recent speech during a convention of local chief executives, Mr. Duterte reportedly claimed that the ill-gotten wealth amassed by the Marcos family during the regime of then president Ferdinand Marcos remains unproven.

The former justice secretary pointed out that the government recovered over PhP170 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth from the Marcos family and their cronies from 1986 to 2015, and that the Sandiganbayan ruled that former First Lady and current Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos is guilty on seven counts of graft.

"That the Marcoses stole billions from the Filipino people is already a matter of historical and official record," the former justice secretary said.

"The ill-gotten wealth recovered from the dictator's family in the past three decades is more than enough proof that the Marcos family enriched themselves at the expense of the Filipino people during their reign," she added.

The lady Senator from Bicol said Mr. Duterte obviously loves being partners in politics with the discredited and most corrupt political personalities in the country, which is apparent with his administration's Senate slate.

"This is not a good governance or anti-corruption slate. It is more of a police line-up of suspected criminals, but with one difference," she said.

"Under this administration, suspected criminals are summarily executed, unless you have stolen millions from the people. In which case, you become Duterte's ally, get appointed in his government, or even get the chance to occupy a slot in his senatorial slate," she added.

Among the candidates that Duterte is endorsing include his former political adviser Francis Tolentino, Ilocos Norte Gov. Maria Imelda Josefa "Imee" Marcos, former PNP Chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and former Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go.

De Lima said she believes that Duterte is only defending himself for condoning the Marcoses and other allies with records of plunder and corruption every time he comes into the defense of the Marcos family.

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