Singapore’s Prime Minister did not endorse Duterte: embassy
File photo of Rodrigo Duterte (Photo: Reuters)
The Singapore Embassy in Manila has refuted claims that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong endorsed Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte for president of the Philippines.
In a statement on Friday posted on its website and Facebook page, the embassy said it learnt of an “FB post mischievously alleging that the Prime Minister of Singapore endorses a presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election in the Philippines”.
“This is untrue. Singapore does not endorse any candidate. The choice is for Filipinos alone to make. We wish the Philippines well in the conduct of its elections,” the embassy said in its statement.
Photos of Lee with the caption “Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is the only presidential candidate that could make Philippines like Singapore” had been spreading online, a report by ABS-CBN News said.
Duterte, the front runner in the May 9 elections, has recently come under fire for remarks he made joking about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill in the Philippines in 1989.
He also said he was prepared to cut diplomatic ties with the United States and Australia after their ambassadors slammed his joke.
A survey conducted a week before his controversial remarks shows Duterte ahead of other candidates such as senator Grace Poe, vice-president Jejomar Binay and former senator Mar Roxas.
