House Appropriations Committee Chairman and Davao City (1st Dist.) Rep. Karlo Nograles came to the defense of President Rodrigo Duterte, whose policies and profane diatribe is being blamed for the weakening economy. “Global market forces is the main culprit behind the series of drops in the Philippine Stock Market and has nothing to do with President Duterte’s anti-drug war policy and his alleged verbal attacks against western leaders,” Nograles said in a statement Tuesday. Nograles is a nephew of the tough-talking Duterte, who before winning the presidency last May was longtime Davao mayor. The Philippine peso, now pegged at over P48 against the US dollar, has reportedly hit a seven-year low within the first three months of Duterte’s leadership. But Nograles, a lawyer, also stressed that the stock market should not be used as the gauge to measure the country’s economic health. He pointed out that portfolio investments are naturally [...]
