Senatorial aspirant Samira Gutoc-Tomawis told off Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. when he dropped an unflattering remark against her on Twitter.
Locsin retweeted a report where Gutoc said that President Rodrigo Duterte may be at fault in the Jolo bombing due to his relentless tirades against the Catholic Church.
He added in the tweet: “She doesn’t know what she is talking about.”
She doesn’t know what she is talking about. https://t.co/E0n28u8Pve
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 31, 2019
Hours later, Gutoc responded that it was Locsin who allegedly “traded” his principles to support Duterte.
With due respect Sir Locsin, a peer of my dad former DFA Asec Gutoc, it is you who do not know what you traded you principles for. If you think rape jokes and violence quips have nothing to do with peace, then I rest my case. (1/2)
— Samira Gutoc (@SamiraGutoc) January 31, 2019
“It is you who do not know what you traded you principles for. If you think rape jokes and violence quips have nothing to do with peace, then I rest my case,” she said.
Before entering politics, Locsin was a journalist at the Philippine Free Press and a TV host of the segment “Teditorial” on ANC.
“And between you and me, sir—ikaw naka aircon at ako isang bakwit at naranasan ang epekto ng gyera sa pami-pamilya, I definitely know what I am talking about, sir,” she added.
Gutoc is running under the opposition Liberal Party at the upcoming mid-term polls.
She once supported Duterte in 2017 when she was part of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, the group tasked to draft the now-ratified Bangsamoro Organic Law.
However, his habit of making rape jokes and implementation of martial law in Mindanao made her change her mind.
Part of the problem?
Gutoc, a Muslim, said Duterte’s rants against Catholic bishops are not alleviating the peace problem, days after the tragic incident in Jolo, Sulu.
“Naririnig natin sa TV at sa radyo ang mismong Pangulo na nagsasabing saktan, nakawan, at patayin ang mga Obispo. Direkta ang mga atake ng Pangulo sa simbahang Katoliko. Mr. President, kasali ka sa problema,” she said.
She hoped Duterte considers that his public attacks against the largest religion in the country have possibly influenced the perpetrators to commit the consecutive attacks in Jolo and Zamboanga.
“So, sinasabi ko na ngayon kay Presidente Duterte, may kagagawan ang pagsasalita mo ng mga atake sa mga Obispo at sa mga Katoliko, dito sa paggawa ng mga kabataang ito, or whoever did Jolo or Zamboanga mosque bombings,” she said.
Last January 27, two explosions killed more than 20 people and injured a hundred more during a Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in the war-torn town of Jolo in Sulu.
Three days later, another bomb went off at a mosque in Zamboanga City that left two dead and four wounded.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo recently assured the public that such spate of violence in Mindanao, which is currently placed under martial law, will not reach Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
“We would like to assure the general public that they can go about their normal activities. Our country is still a safe haven,” he said.
