「日刊まにら新聞」ウェブ

President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo shared the stage at the Philippine Military Academy commencement exercises on Sunday, days after a man on the "Ang Totoong Narco List" videos retracted his statement and accused the opposition Liberal Party of being behind the black propaganda against the Chief Executive, some members of his family and former close aide.

Robredo is the current chairperson of the LP.

Before reading his prepared speech, Duterte, in jest told Robredo, “Ma’am, before, you always smiled at me, (but) now you don’t.”

This made the audience laugh, including Robredo.

Peter Joemel Advincula, who claimed to be "Bikoy," the hooded man in the videos, surrendered to the police early this week and retracted his previous accusations against Duterte, some of his children and his former assistant and now Senator-elect Christopher "Bong" Go of their involvement in the illegal drug trade.

In his latest claim, Advincula said that opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the LP were the masterminds in his videos. He also mentioned that Robredo was supposed to benefit if Duterte would be ousted due to the videos that he called as all "fabrication."

After the rites, Duterte and Robredo were seen having a brief conversation on the stage.

In a video posted online, Robredo said the president just asked her how she was.

When Advincula came out in a press conference at the Philippine National Police headquarters this week, he claimed that the LP was already neglecting him after all its “Otso Diretso” candidates lost in the recent midterm elections.

No opposition candidate won in the elections and the “Magic 12” was dominated by the administration bets. Ella Dionisio/DMS