Ipinagtanggol ni Senador Leila de Lima si dating Pangulong Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III mula sa alegasyon na ang kontrobersyal na P16 bilyong frigate deal ng Philippine Navy (PN) ay nangyari sa kanyang administrasyon.
Sagot ito ni de Lima sa sinabi ni Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque na nangyari ang deal sa administrasyong Aquino.
Ayon sa senadora, halatang inililihis ni Roque ang usapin matapos makaladkad ang pangalan ni Special Assistant to the President Christopher ‘Bong’ Go.
“As I have said before: Every time the Duterte government gets involved in dubious deals, the President and his cohorts always divert the issue instead of addressing it head-on—either Duterte and his lackeys will blame the past administration or they will invent another outrageous lie to change the headlines,” patutsada ni de Lima.
“The revelations made by Rep. Alejano, a former Navy and Marine officer, in his privilege speech, further affirms that the Aquino government cannot be blamed for any anomaly in the bidding because the awarding of the contract via a notice of award was actually consummated in Aug. 2016, and the signing itself of the contract on Oct. 2016, both during Duterte’s term,”dagdag pa niya.