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Chief Presidential Legal Advisor Salvador Panelo. FILE PHOTO OF THE INVESTIGATOR / JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte’s top legal adviser has apologized to Vice President Leni Robredo for his comments accusing the country’s second-highest leader of taking advantage of a government plane for a relief operation in Bicol.
Secretary Salvador Panelo also quickly made it clear that his apology to Robredo was only for expressing his opinion on certain information that was later found to be false and not for accusations that he was selling lies and fake news.
“The information did not come from me, I was just reacting [to] That information. So I apologized to her for reacting with incorrect information, ”he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday.
“I do not apologize for distributing or selling false information. Because I was just expressing a reaction based on that information that I thought was correct, ”he insisted.
Earlier, Panelo claimed that Robredo made it appear that the government relief items came from her when she was traveling with the items aboard a Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 aircraft, which the vice president vehemently denied, stating that never used a C-130. plan in all relief efforts initiated by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, whom Panelo cited as the source of the incorrect information he published, has already apologized to Robredo for the confusion. He said it was not the vice president who boarded the C-130 plane but OVP donations to Catanduanes, as there was no ground transportation available at the time.
READ: Lorenzana apologizes to the vice president for incorrect information on the use of airplanes
According to Panelo, Lorenzana gave him a copy of his conversation with the former head of the Base Development and Conversion Authority (BCDA), Arnel Casanova, where the subject was mentioned.
As soon as Robredo issued a strong condemnation of the statements, Panelo said he contacted Lorenzana to clarify the issue.
“I got that information from a text message exchange between former BCDA president Arnel Casanova and secretary Delfin Lorenzana, which was sent to me. So, when I was reading the exchange, and then I got to that part in which the secretary Lorenzana told Mr. Casanova that he went to Catanduanes on a plane, C-130, that’s why I made an adverse comment about that, “he explained Panelo.
“And after that, when Vice President Leni’s camp issued a statement about the falsity of that information, I immediately checked with the secretary Delfin Lorenzana and said ‘they are denying, so they can verify it.’ And he did, and he texted me back and said, ‘I think I got the wrong information,’ and I told him to please check back with the PAF, so he sent me a report from the PAF, “he added.
Robredo issued a strong statement about the circulation of misleading information within the government, saying that Panelo and even Duterte, who said Robredo was looking for him during the Typhoon Ulysses attack, are basing things on incorrect data.
READ: VP camp tells Panelo: No, Robredo did not use a government plane in relief operations in Bicol
READ: Helping during a calamity is not a contest, Robredo tells Duterte
But while Panelo apologized, he was adamant that Robredo and his side cannot claim that the president has not been working if she had used government assets such as PAF planes to transport her relief goods to Catanduanes, an area devastated by Super Typhoon Rolly.
“But I said that it is really true because of the record that the merchandise was brought to Legazpi by Vice President Robredo, it means that it is not true that we do not welcome Vice President Leni,” he insisted.
“In other words, my critical narrative was based on his side criticizing the president for not doing his job and then highlighting his distribution of relief items, you cannot say that the president is not doing something and that by doing something, It gives the impression that the president and the administration are negligent in their duties, ”he said.
KGA
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