Sen. Francis Escudero on Friday lashed out at his vice-presidential race opponent, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, for claiming that the Poe- Escudero camp is behind the attacks against Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

"Sen. Alan, after being silent for quite some time, is once again acting and talking like a wild and rabid dog," Escudero said. "He is throwing wild accusations simply because he himself cannot answer the issues being thrown at his running mate because it will contradict everything that he is and has stood for in the past."

Cayetano earlier claimed that a television ad against Duterte was hatched by a conspiracy composed of Malacanang, Mar Roxas and Grace Poe.

Escudero said Cayetano "should look at himself in the mirror first" before going after Poe. "It is a fact that more big businessmen are behind him and his campaign, for how else can he afford to spend nearly half a billion pesos on pre-campaign ads alone, not to mention other campaign expenses?"

"Sen. Grace and I ran a clean campaign and we have avoided hitting our opponents or engaging in negative campaigning. What Sen. Cayetano is accusing Sen. Grace of is simply not our style and completely out of character for us to do, much less tolerate," he added.

"The only one with the capacity and the stomach to do this is the administration and LP. Don't blame or look at us," Escudero said.