Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo insisted on Wednesday that he should not apologize to Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz who was implicated by Malacanang in an alleged plan to oust President Rodrigo Duterte from office.
In an ANC interview with Panelo, he said he saw nothing wrong with what he did in 2019, including Diaz’s name in an alleged “Oust Duterte” matrix.
When Panelo presented the “matrix” at a press briefing in Malacanang on May 8, 2019, he said: “The Office of the President, the President himself has received information, intelligence information that has been validated and appears to show that there is a deliberate attempt to discredit this administration, as well as to boost the candidacies of the opposition’s senatorial candidates, and it appears that there are certain groups who are working together to achieve this goal. ”
Panelo later admitted that the matrix had not been thoroughly verified.
He also clarified two days after the said presscon that Diaz and another celebrity athlete, Gretchen Ho, who also appeared in the same matrix, had nothing to do with the alleged plan to oust Duterte.
He explained that Diaz and Ho’s name only came out because a “follower” of their social media accounts was a person he said was among the “advocates of the Liberal Party” and had an email address that was allegedly used to spread “Bikoy” video.
Panelo apologizes for hurting Hidilyn over ‘Oust Duterte’ matrix
When he was asked in that interview on May 10, 2019, if he would apologize to Hidilyn Diaz and Ho for the release of their names, Panelo replied: “No. I think those who should apologize are those who wrongly analyzed. ”
When Hidilyn Diaz won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday, netizens did not forget what Panelo did before, who is now praising the athlete who made history.
“Madaling mag-apologize kung mali ang ginawa mo. Pero kung wala ka namang ginawa, ano bang ginawa ko? I just presented the matrix na wala naman akong kinalaman,” said Panelo in an interview with him by the ANC.
“Walang dapat ipag-sorry kasi hindi naman sinasama siya [sa matrix] eh. Di sya kasama eh,” he added.
Later, Panelo said he regrets “if Diaz was hurt” in the alleged matrix.
“But I’m sorry, I’m sad to know that Hidilyn was hurt, I’m sorry for that, kawawa naman.”
Earlier, several camps had also urged the Palace to apologize to Diaz.
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