ABS-CBN REPORT ON DUTERTE'S 'SUPPORT FOR IGLESIA' DISTORTED

An ABS-CBN news reported by Ryan Chua lumping Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte in the group of politicians who expressed support for the Iglesia Ni Cristo's protest rally was distorted and edited to fit into a neatly laid out story to prop up the image of another politician.

Peter Tiu Laviña, spokesman for Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, said the Chua report was misleading as it lined up the Davao City Mayor with other politicians who openly supported the protest rally staged by the INC which caused a monstrous traffic jam along EDSA and angered stranded motorists.

The Chua report attempted to place the Mayor and the other politicians in a bad light while highlighting administration Presidential candidate Manuel Roxas III as the only presidential contender who stood up against the INC.

"Mayor Duterte expressed support to the Constitutional Right to Peaceful Assembly, not to what the Iglesia ni Cristo was protesting against or fighting for," Laviña said.

"These are two different things. In fact, Mayor Duterte was clear in his statement that the issues which brought the INC members to the protest sites were none of his concern but he would allow them to stage a rally as a recognition of their right to peacefully assemble and express their grievances," Laviña added.

He would issue the same statement if the protesters were members of the Leftist organisations, transport groups and other religious groups who would like to gather peacefully to seek redress for their grievances, he said.