FRANCISCO S. TATAD
IT is not clear what prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to say, in his recent National Heroes’ Day speech, that in France a person accused of a crime is presumed guilty and must prove his innocence. It is absolutely embarrassing for a Filipino to have to listen to such poppycock coming from his own President, and unbearably so, to have to listen to an Embassy statement correct him with labored politesse. There is no acceptable excuse or explanation for it.