Roque nais nang magbitiw matapos hindi sabihan kaugnay pagpapaospital ni Du30

INIHAYAG ni Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque ang kanyang intensyong magbitiw sa pwesto matapos namang hindi sabihan kaugnay ng pagpapaospital ni Pangulong Duterte sa Cardinal Santos Medical Center sa San Juan City noong Miyerkules.

“I need a weekend. I need to ponder on this point, and although I will say that like you, I was taken aback about the diagnostic examination. I did not lie to anyone, because I simply did not know,” sabi ni Roque matapos namang magpatawag ng isang briefing kahapon.

Ito’y matapos naman niyang sabihin na nag-day off lamang si Duterte noong Miyerkules matapos hindi makadalo sa ilang opisyal na iskedyul.

Taliwas ito sa pahayag ni Duterte Huwebes ng gabi na sumailalim muli siya sa endoscopy at colonoscopy sa Cardinal Santos kung saan siya nanatili ng isang oras.

“And in my decision on whether or not to run, or to accept whatever the office—the President may have, I will consider the fact that in this capacity as Spokesperson, I must know everything about the President. And I do concede that he’s going to that diagnostic exam was something that I did not know, and therefore I’m inclined to believe that perhaps I am not in a position to continue with this current function,” dagdag ni Roque.

Idinagdag ni Roque na inalok sa kanya ni Duterte ang posisyon ng Press Secretary. 

“Prior to this speech we had a command conference where the President asked me to stay and offered me a position which currently does not exist yet ‘no. While there was no categorical agreement on what to do, I did say I will consider it and I wanted a weekend to think it over. He mentioned it again in the PMA affair, but I think the manner by which he mentioned it was typical Duterte; he… cariño brutal if you need to put it, but I think he has sent the message that he prefers that I stay,” ayon pa kay Roque. 

Hindi naman direktang sinabi ni Roque kung sumama ang loob niya sa nangyari.

“(Foreign Affairs) Secretary Alan Cayetano told me that I should not just pray for what I should do. He told me to look for an objective sign, and I think this is an objective sign that I’m looking for,” paliwanag ni Roque.

Sa kanyang briefing, tinangka pa ni Roque na umalis matapos ang pahayag na magbibitiw na siya sa pwesto.

“I need a weekend now to decide. It goes without saying that if I do file, I’m considered resigned from this position. But I do confirm as the President said that he offered me another job, which is still related to being a Spokesperson,” ayon pa kay Roque.