President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s newly designated spokesperson, Ernesto Abella, has a very interesting story to tell.
Abella — an educator, social entrepreneur, and a former pastor — revealed that in 1996 he was looking at property in Monteritz, Davao City, when he was kidnapped by a group of bandits who claimed to be members of the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“Abella’s companions then sought the help of then-Davao City Mayor Duterte, who, in turn, asked help from some Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leaders to help secure Abella’s freedom. Thankfully, Abella was set free within 24 hours. Abella, however, refused to say how much the ransom demand was, and if it was paid,” reports Joyce Ilas on CNN Philippines.
Abella seems to be the anti-thesis of Atty. Salvador “Sal” Panelo, who had initially functioned as Duterte’s spokesperson. That is to say Abella seems mild-mannered and not at all confrontational.
In fact Abella told reporters that he was a mere “talking head” and there was “nothing very exciting about him.”
“Abella stated that he would like to maintain a conversational relationship with reporters,” reports Yuji Vincent Gonzales in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Abella explained: “I’d like to call it a conversation. Nothing adversarial kung pwede. We’d like to avoid any rough edges. If we can just to listen to one another carefully, and to be able to articulate the true intentions of the President. After all, he does have a very clear intention or purpose — to remove crime, corruption, and drugs [so we could all] live a comfortable life.”
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