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philippines chairman The estranged sister of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a senator, on Monday publicly accused him of being a longtime drug addict whose alleged cocaine dependence has caused problems to his rule, including corruption, his spokesman said, adding that it was a recycled issue that has long gone unreported.
Communications Under Secretary Claire Castro Senator Imee Marcos said the baseless allegations against her own brother could be a desperate attempt to divert the ongoing investigation into the corruption scandal involving flood control projects, which could implicate her colleagues. management committee,
Castro said, “Sen. Imee, I hope you will be patriotic and help the investigation being conducted by your brother and condemn all the corrupt.” “Don’t favor them, don’t hide them. Let President Marcos work to stop all corruption.”
An independent fact-finding commission created by Marcos, a Senate committee and government agencies are investigating allegations that influential members of Congress and the Senate took huge bribes from construction companies that won lucrative contracts to build flood-control projects that turned out to be substandard, incomplete or non-existent. The scandal has sparked outrage in the Asian country that has long battled deadly floods and storms.
The senator is a harsh critic of her brother and a high-profile ally of her predecessor, rodrigo duarte,
Duterte was arrested in March on a warrant from the International Criminal Court and flown to the Netherlands and detained for alleged crimes against humanity stemming from his brutal anti-drug campaigns that have left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. Duterte has denied any wrongdoing.
Duterte’s family and allies have blamed Marcos and his administration for the illegal arrest and detention of the former president by the global court. His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is also one of the most vocal critics of the current president, but is a close ally of the senator.
In a speech on Monday night before a massive rally of a religious group manila Park, the senator, said his brother’s drug addiction began when their father, the namesake of the current leader, was still president and continues today. He claimed that this had affected his health and ability to rule.
The president and his elder sister were the children of a former dictator who was ousted in a military-backed “people power” coup in 1986.
He alleged that the president’s wife and children also used drugs and said that he and his brother have mostly not spoken since he became president in 2022. Liza Marcos and her children, who include a prominent member of the House of Representatives, did not immediately comment.
“His addiction led to a flood of corruption, a lack of direction and very bad decisions, an absence of accountability and justice,” the senator said, without offering any evidence.
Addressing the army, police and other officials, he said that they should help “improve his condition”, adding, “I am not his enemy. His enemy is himself.”
Castro criticized the senator for not indicting Rodrigo Duterte, who has admitted using fentanyl in the past and is being linked by critics to his daughter, the vice president, for alleged corruption. Both Duterte and his daughter have denied involvement in corruption, including alleged misuse of confidential funds.
Early last year, Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech that his successor was a drug addict who was once on a law enforcement list of suspected drug users. Marcos then laughed off Duterte’s allegations, saying he would not dignify the allegations by responding, but claimed his predecessor was using fentanyl, a powerful opioid.
In 2016, Duarte said that he had used fentanyl in the past to reduce pain from injuries sustained from a motorbike accident. His lawyer later said that Duterte had stopped taking fentanyl before becoming president in 2016.
In 2021, when Marcos was a presidential candidate, his spokesperson showed two reports from a private hospital and the National Police Laboratory that said Marcos had tested negative for cocaine and methamphetamine.