Senate President Sotto said that he’s willing to talk to President Duterte to settle Palace-Senate feud.
On Thursday, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said that he’s willing to talk to President Rodrigo Duterte in order to settle the Palace-Senate feud.
Senate President Sotto said in an interview with ONE News that he’s willing to reach out to the President about the latter’s displeasure on the Senate probe on the Department of Health’s (DOH) disbursement of pandemic funds.
He also believed that President Duterte may have been misinformed about the Senate’s inquiry on the matter, which he said that he could explain should they talk.
President Duterte had criticized and even hurled insults against senators for digging up anomalies in the Department of Health’s transfer of some PHP 42 billion in pandemic response funds to the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS) — including the award of contracts to questionable suppliers.
“Ang tingin ko para hindi lang lumala, I would take it upon myself. Tutal kaibigan ko naman si Pangulo, hindi naman siya tumatawag sakin, pero I will probably go out of my way and ask if he’s willing for us to talk at pag-usapan namin ito. Sa pagkatingin ko, ‘pag napagpaliwanagan naman ‘yon — mahirap kasi yung nag-aaway executive at saka legislative,” Senate President Sotto said.
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Senate President Sotto also recalled Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go telling him that the President was fond of monitoring news and watching videos online.
He surmised that the President may have chanced upon “fake news” about the Senate’s ongoing investigation.
According to Senate President Sotto, maybe some “fake news” were being spread on social media and so the President could have seen inaccurate things there that triggered his reactions.
Still, Senate President Sotto said that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, led by Senator Richard Gordon, can’t be prevented from pursuing its inquiry as new issues have cropped up from their Senate hearings.
Moreover, Senate President Sotto said that he wouldn’t reach out to the President as a Senate President but as a friend so that they could address the conflict between the two branches of government.
According to Senate President Sotto, he and President Duterte have been friends since 1988.
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