President Rodrigo Duterte, during a press conference in Butuan City last June 17, tried to evade the upcoming follow-up questions from the media about his two day ‘secret trip’ during his five-day absence in the public eye.
He even mentioned his rival during the Presidential election, Mar Roxas to his morbid joke to the press.
In an interview, President Duterte admitted that during his vacation, he travelled secretly to a town like a ‘private citizen’ but he didn’t revealed the exact location to the media.
“The truth is I went out of town to — for a visit somewhere else, I cannot divulge it. I had to go there incognito. ‘Yun ang totoo. Confidential but I said I travelled like a private citizen para lang maka-abot doon sa gusto kong puntahan,” President Duterte told the media.
To avoid the media to get more from him, Duterte came up with a tale in which he mentioned his rival, former DILG secretary Mar Roxas, as a punchline.
“Or another reason, pumunta ako ng punenarya kasi namatay yung anak ng kaibigan ko. Pagdating ko, sige siya iyak tapos sabi ko i—arrange na lang niyo ‘yung funeral services, nagpaiwan ako sa morgue. nakatulog ako. Totoo. Dala ko isang escort lang eh,” he said.
Duterte said that the funeral parlor staff mistakenly placed him to the casket while sleeping and when he woke up, he saw Mar Roxas laughing while seeing him inside the casket and screaming.
“Pag gising ko, I was horrified. Akala ko nasa MRI ako. It’s a very closed chamber. Hindi ka maka — hindi ka makakamot ng ano kasi — akala ko sa MRI ako. Then little did I realize na yung taga punenarya, nagkamali. Ako yung nilagay sa kabaong. Paggising ko, may salamin sa harap ko tapos naka-ganon si [Mar] Roxas, tumawtawa. Sigaw ako ng Sigaw. Yan ang gusto ninyo?” he added.
President Duterte gave a clue to the media about his secret trip and he said that his secret trip lasted for two days and the place where he traveled is located in Mindanao.
