Malacanang yesterday said President Rodrigo Duterte has no links with the businessman who filed a cyber-libel case against Rappler chief executive officer and journalist Maria Ressa.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo issued the denial after an article from the Pinoy Ako Blog claimed that businessman Wilfredo Keng’s Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp, has secured billions of pesos worth of projects, including a P10.9bn cement manufacturing plant and a massive reclamation project in Cavite, Philippine Daily Inquirer
reported.
“Even assuming that those facts you stated are correct, it doesn’t follow that the president will know this particular person,” Panelo said.
Panelo said the president does not interfere with the departments unless there are complaints of corruption.
“You must remember that the policy of the president is that he does not interfere with the department heads relative to their governance of their departments.
Duterte earlier denied that he knew Keng.
Keng filed a cyber-libel case against Ressa and Rappler over a 2012 article, which he claimed was “clearly defamatory.”
This led to the arrest of Ressa last Wednesday by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46. Ressa posted a P100,000 bail on Thursday.