BAKIT INAPPOINT SI LARRY GADON? | Pag-usapan natin ang appointment ng suspended lawyer na si Larry Gadon bilang adviser ni President Marcos Jr. for Poverty Alleviation. Makakasama natin si Atty. Luke Espiritu, isang human rights lawyer at labor organizer. FACTS FIRST WITH CHRISTIAN ESGUERRA
A staunch critic of the Marcos administration said Larry Gadon’s appointment as Presidential Adviser for the Alleviation of Poverty shows the Marcos administration is not serious in tackling the country’s chronic poverty issue.
Labor lawyer and human rights advocate Luke Espiritu said that his initial reaction was to ask if the president was “really serious” about appointing a problematic figure.
“Seryoso ba itong presidente? Imagine-in mo, [Is the president really serious? Just imagine,] poverty alleviation and there’s no record of him dealing with the concern of poverty,” Espiritu said in the June 27 episode of Facts First with Christian Esguerra.
He also added that a person like Gadon, who gained social media infamy for being rude to his critics is “someone who cannot be taken seriously” and that “he would even bet that no one in Marcos Jr.’s cabinet sees Gadon as someone that should be taken seriously.”
For him, the administration of Marcos, Jr. could easily be judged by how it presents solutions to the country’s persisting problems and that Gadon’s appointment is no different than asking a “clown” as his poverty alleviation adviser.
“This is a testament also of how Ferdinand Jr. takes the poverty question. The government is not serious when it comes to solving the poverty question when in fact this question is the most important thing to be resolved right now,” Espiritu emphasized.
The episode was streamed live a day after Marcos appointed Gadon, disbarred on June 28 by the Supreme Court, as the presidential adviser for the alleviation of poverty.
The appointment was heavily criticized by critics of the Marcos administration.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said that Gadon can still keep his new role despite cases he faces before the Supreme Court as “there are urgent matters that need to be done.”
“Kasi kung seryoso ka, bakit naman payaso ang ilalagay mo to answer that question? […] Never napag-usapan ang kahirapan, ang ginagawa niya [Marcos] ay i-certify pa as urgent ang Maharlika fund para i-invest pa sa mga negosyo ng mayaman na pero hindi ang problema ng maraming Pilipino,” said Espiritu who famously faced Gadon in a senatorial debate.
Watch more of Esguerra and Espiritu’s discussion here. Hurt Allauigan