A CROPPED photo uploaded on Facebook showing the President celebrating his 76th birthday with a birthday candle on top of a cup of rice instead of cake stirred public outrage following the upload of a video that showed exactly the opposite of what is initially being implied as a simple bash.
But President Rodrigo Duterte’s longtime aide, now Senator Bong Go promptly defended the Malacañang chief executive even as he insisted that the birthday celebration is simple as he claimed it was.
“Simple lunch lang naman talaga. Sila-sila lang pamilya sa munting tahanan niya sa Davao. Ganun naman mag-birthday PRRD [President Rodrigo Roa Duterte]. Wala pa ngang bihis,” Go said in a television interview this morning.
Go also warded off nasty remarks about having lechon on Duterte’s dining table.
“Presidente ‘yan. Ayaw n’yo ba pakainin man lang ng pagkain na kinakain naman ng ordinaryong Pilipino kahit saan…kahit man lang sa kaarawan niya? Sa mga bumabatikos kay Pangulo, tingin kayo sa salamin. Mas cute pa ang lechon sa inyo,” added th obviously pissed of Senator Go.
He added that aside from the immediate family members, present were Duterte’s 15 grandchildren, plus the household helpers.
“Per PRRD, labinlimang apo at kasambahay ang kumain. Ano pala ipapakain nya?”
Sought for comment, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque assailed the critics whom he claimed embarks on crab mentality.
Duterte was in Davao City on the eve of the re-imposition of an enhanced community quarantine over Metro Manila and nearby provinces as COVID-19 cases have surged in recent days and as many hospitals in the region have reached capacity for patients suffering a severe form of the highly contagious disease.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s 76th birthday celebration in Davao City earned criticism and mockery online on Sunday as the lechon wasn’t part of the photo that was earlier provided by Senator Bong Go to the press.
The viral photo also earned the ire of the opposition legislators.
“Acting poor for your birthday photo ops when you’re not really poor is just mocking those who truly have nothing to put on their tables for their own birthdays,” Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite said on Twitter.