The speech of President Rodrigo Duterte before soldiers in Jolo, Sulu was discovered to be edited after his tirades mentioned ABS-CBN network and Rappler.
In the audio recording obtained by Inquirer, the entire speech ran for 40 minutes while the version aired by Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) only took 35 minutes. This means to say that the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) cut down clips of the speech before publicizing it.
The statement removed by PCOO was Duterte’s remarks regarding ABS-CBN, which he alleged maligned him.
“Yun namang ABS-CBN binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko kapag ako nanalo, bubuwagin ko ang oligarchy ng Pilipinas. Ginawa ko. Without declaring martial law, sinira ko yung mga tao na humahawak sa ekonomiya at umiipit sa tao at hindi nagbabayad. They take advantage, sa kanila political power,” he said.
He also accused the Lopez family of holding companies outside the country and for the erroneous handling of its finances to get rid of paying taxes.
“Tapos may mga holding company sa labas. Ganun din. Ano yung, ano yung inano nila ni Marcos. Sila rin. Cayman, tapos may holding company sa Hungary, dun nila binubuhos. Kunwari, may ano sila, may investment sila dun. Padala sila ng pera. Pero yung investment na yan, wala na. ‘Yung pera hindi na yan babalik. Kaya walang taxes. And to think that they talk and they play God over the lives of the Filipino. Kaya ako, wala akong ano,” he added.
Another statement edited out by PCOO was addressed to the executives of Rappler, an online news site known for revealing misappropriations in the government, calling them “leftists” for saying all kinds of things.
He said, “At saka ‘yang mga komunista, mga lefitst, ‘yang mga Rappler – kung ano-ano mga pinagsasabi. Pagsira. Ngayon sila, Amerikano. Ang masakit diyan, ang may-ari, Amerikano. Tapos ‘yung mga board of directors, sila Solita Monsod, Ayala. Putangina papaano,”
Duterte’s threat to the two of the well-known news media outfits frustrated many journalists.
Why the need to edit this info out of the speech that aired and for Malacanang to later claim the President wasn't referring to ABS-CBN when he clearly was? https://t.co/ZQOmbogaaM
— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) July 15, 2020
Spox Harry Roque: The Palace has maintained a neutral stance on the issue as it respects the separation of powers between the two co-equal branches government
Also: https://t.co/aGMUM0yCmT
— Jeff Canoy (@jeffcanoy) July 15, 2020
Ah, meron palang recording? Ano naman ang palusot ng mga Shiny Mother diyan… na-wiretap si neutral Supreme Leader? https://t.co/DEIJsjOPhb
— Tony Velasquez (@KakanTuring) July 15, 2020
So this was the unedited version of the speech.
“Yun namang ABS-CBN binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko kapag ako nanalo, bubuwagin ko ang oligarchy ng Pilipinas. Ginawa ko. Without declaring martial law” https://t.co/KAt25A7WpP
— Karen Davila (@iamkarendavila) July 14, 2020
The video of President Duterte’s speech in Sulu provided by RTVM was edited. His complete speech mentioned ABS-CBN. Why was the mention of ABS-CBN edited out? Bakit tinanggal ang banat ni Presidente sa ABSCBN? Isip isip… 🤔https://t.co/Ae1Ggooswn
— Ces Oreña-Drilon (@cesdrilon) July 15, 2020
Why did they have to edit his recorded speech? Why did they have to remove the things he said about ABS-CBN and deny that IT IS about ABS-CBN? 🤔 https://t.co/7G3orHLAuU
— Zen Hernandez (@zenhernandez) July 15, 2020
What did we say about journalists’ role? It’s to get to the truth and report the truth.
Balance and bias are tipped towards the truth.
And here’s the truth – President Duterte is the force behind ABS-CBN’s shutdown. He said so himself. pic.twitter.com/6lE5eCLEkz
— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) July 15, 2020
Really makes you wonder what else is being edited out during his Monday night/Tuesday morning ramblings. https://t.co/1YLQ51Jbe5
— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) July 15, 2020
ayun lang. neutral naman pala ih pero bakeeet? odiba unti unti po tayong kusang minumulat https://t.co/6OgUZHLC6E
— DJ Jhaiho (@mor1019jhaiho) July 15, 2020
Resibo! 🤡 https://t.co/BHLG4jEwli
— Bianca Dava 🐱 (@biancadava) July 15, 2020
After the speech became a controversial issue for its shady content, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque and Senator Bong Go tried to convince the public that Duterte was not referring to ABS-CBN but rather his past embattled business tycoons Lucio Tan, Manuel V. Pangilinan, and the Ayalas.
Meanwhile, Duterte insisted that he was not involved in the closure of ABS-CBN and stressed that it was the House of Representatives’ Committee on Legislative Franchises’ decision to deny the franchise application.
He remarked this in his speech as posted by Manila Bulletin where he said, “Itong may isa pang ano human right na regional, puti. Sabi niya ako raw ang nagpasara sa ABS-CBN. malay ko? Nagpasara niyan Congress. Asshole talaga ang gago. Ganun ‘yung puti. Sobra.”
Also, the Malacañang earlier claimed that Duterte was “neutral” on the ABS-CBN franchise issue. But Duterte has publicly made threats against the network several times.
In a 2019 speech, he had stated that he will make sure that the ABS-CBN will not be granted a franchise renewal come 2020 and advised them to just sell their company.
“Ikaw ABS-CBN, ang iyong franchise mag end next year. You are expecting ma-renew yan? I’m sorry. You’re out. I will see to it that you’re out,” he said.
From years 2016 to 2018 he complained about the failure of the network to show his political advertisements during his presidential campaign and for being biased in its reporting.
According to Rappler, since Pres. Duterte assumed office it has monitored at least 154 attacks and threats against members of the press. The attacks happened mostly to the online reporters while the rest are to radio, print, television, and multimedia reporters.
