Incoming Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., the former SEC chairman stated that the statement released by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is premature. According to Yasay, condemning the president is premature because Mayor Duterte did not endorse any extrajudicial killings but it was only the media who reported that he endorsed such measures, in fact he condemn such acts.
The statement of the UN Secretary General was released internationally based on out-of-context statement by various news media organizations in the Philippines. Yasay also noted that Mayor Duterte made the statements in an unofficial capacity because he is still not the President.
Various news media reported that Mayor Duterte endorsed the killings of journalists but based upon the transcript released by the camp of the incoming President there is no such statement that came from Mayor Duterte during the said press conference.
The incoming Foreign Affairs Secretary also claimed that the Secretary General based his statements on bias reports against Mayor Rody Duterte. Sec. Ban Ki-moon earlier condemned Mayor Duterte’s alleged statement of support of extrajudicial killings but based on the transcript of the interview Mayor Duterte did not release any statement supporting or endorsing the attacks on journalists.
President Rody Duterte became the target of the international communities because of the misunderstood statement during the press conference and picked by some international organizations particularly the United Nations who issued a statement condemning the supposed statement of Mayor Duterte that was never stated in the first place by the incoming President of the Philippines.
Due to some misunderstanding from the national media and due to the continues bias reporting made by some journalists, the camps of Mayor Duterte finally decided to boycott the media instead of the media boycotting the incoming president. The closest aide of Mayor Rody Duterte, Bong Go announced that the President will no longer hold a press conference until the end of his term.