Sueno on Rody tirades: I’ve suffered enough

MANILA, Philippines - Former interior and local government secretary Ismael Sueno fired back at President Duterte yesterday for saying he was involved in corrupt activities while in office.

Sueno finally broke his silence and called on Duterte to stop sowing misinformation and throwing baseless accusations against him. “Para na rin akong si Kian delos Santos na nakadapa na, binira pa,‘di lang ako pati pamilya ko ay nasasaktan (I’m like Kian, who was already down but still shot, even my family is hurting), my mother is 98 years old,” Sueno said, referring to the 17-year-old student allegedly executed by policemen during an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City last week.

“Paulit-ulit na (He keeps repeating it), why can’t he (Duterte) get over it? I’ve been the one suffering… I can’t understand, that’s why I am breaking my silence,” Sueno said in a telephone call to The STAR. Sueno said he had been praying for God’s guidance for Duterte despite being the whipping boy in the government’s campaign against corruption but he said he could not be silent anymore.  

Sueno was reacting to an article published in The STAR titled “Rody hits unnamed government executive over lavish travels” yesterday. Duterte assailed Sueno anew along with an unnamed official who allegedly took lavish foreign trips as he reminded public servants to maintain a simple lifestyle. Duterte said the official – not from the executive branch – had booked first class flights and stayed in expensive hotels.

Sueno debunked the three accusations that Duterte has repeatedly been making against him. He said he never went to Washington during his term as secretary, did not purchase fire trucks in Austria and neither did he have 10 policemen as bodyguards, contrary to claims of the President. “I was scheduled to go there (Washington) but I did not go. Then (Duterte alleged) I went to Austria to buy fire trucks worth P18 million a piece…but I did not…because it was already a done deal,” Sueno said. 

He maintained the fire trucks deal was perfected in 2014 between the Philippine government and Austria.

Sueno said the fire trucks were only P4 million each to be paid in 31 years and the payment will start on the eighth year or in 2022.

The Austrian fire truck is much cheaper compared to those made in China costing P7 million each.?

“It was a perfected deal and I just went there to sign a new schedule of delivery and to check the accessories, and he (President) didn’t mention it was a grant, it was a government-to-government deal…with a soft loan and a grant portion,” Sueno noted.?

Sueno also said it was not true that 10 policemen were assigned to him as escorts, noting that the secretary of Department of National Defense has more bodyguards.?

“He also said I had 10 policemen as bodyguards, but what can I do this is the work of the Special Police Assistance under PNP (Philippine National Police).  Ayaw ko nga ng may (I didn’t want to have) bodyguards, pero wala akong magawa (but there was nothing I could do). Why doesn’t he mention the DND has more, even an advance party,” he pointed out.?

Sueno said he had been trying to be silent despite the corruption issues at the Bureau of Customs that also implicated Duterte’s son Paolo, current vice mayor of Davao City.