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DAVAO CITY—A
key administration supporter here cuts political ties
with another key administration ally, who also hails
from this city, following a word war between them.
Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte, the consultant of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo on public order and security, announced
on national television early Tuesday that he was cutting
his political cooperation with House Majority Leader
Prospero Nograles.
“I’d
better cut our links from now on,” Duterte said in a
television interview that had Nograles as its studio
guest.
Duterte
narrated his disdain for Nograles, who squared with
Duterte in several elections for mayor here, with the
latter winning in all of them. He said Nograles is
planning to run for senator as proven by his giving of
projects in two areas outside
Davao City.
In
another interview on Sunday, Duterte said he was
informed by a close confidante of Nograles that the
congressman, was discretely investigating his (Duterte’s)
peace and order fund disbursement and was planning to
file a case against the former small miner who has
become successful on Mount Diwalwal, who supported the
allies of Duterte in the barangay elections.
“Does he
want to run for mayor?” Duterte asked. He alleged that
Nograles has released a statement questioning his peace
and order fund, running at more than P300 million, and
reportedly accusing the mayor that “had Duterte spent it
on other services, including food, Mariannet Amper would
not have died.”
Amper
was the 12-year-old girl who hanged herself allegedly
due to her disappointment at being absent from school
for sometime and for failure to pay school fees. News
reports claimed that Amper despaired and hanged herself,
an account that her parents have vehemently denied.
Duterte
threw the blame on Nograles saying, “had he spent the
money [for poverty alleviation] that he paid for his
project’s billboards, the girl in his district would not
have died.” Duterte referred to the billboard saying
that certain government projects were “Thru the
Initiative of Cong. Prospero Nograles.”
These
are government projects and even if Nograles would die,
the government is really obliged to put them up or
repair them simply because the government ought to do
so,” he said.
Duterte
has also warned Nograles on Sunday that if their quarrel
worsens, he would make public “all the things and favors
that he has asked from me.” He also challenged Nograles
to dare him to name the rumored girlfriend “that he
requested me to be accommodated by a television station
because she is already not known here.”
Nograles,
on the other hand, said he was dismayed by the threat of
Duterte who has warned physicians detailed to the
emergency and rescue 911, that they would be fired if
they would respond to any emergency call coming from the
Nograles family.
“That’s
your mayor,” Nograles said. “The mayor can do and
threaten whatever he wants … I will be the last man
standing against him.”
Nograles
also belied Duterte’s claim that the congressman was
allegedly behind the publication in a
Manila newspaper
of a wanted advertisement against former miner Nelson
Tata Sala who is reportedly wanted for murder.
But he
said in a telephone interview after Sunday’s television
program, “why can’t the mayor and the police arrest a
wanted man?”
Nograles
and Duterte became political allies only during this
year’s elections, when President Arroyo made them
collaborate, with Nograles taking care of the
administration’s national candidates and Duterte helping
campaign for them on the local level.
The
administration senatorial lineup got a beating in the
local polls. Duterte blamed it on Nograles’s alleged
“diversion of campaign funds” to ensure that his son’s
Party-list group, Kalahi, would get a wide margin at
least in the city. |
