President Rodrigo Duterte and journalist Ellen Tordesillas. File
MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte called veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas a "prostitute" on Monday.
"She’s in every inch a prostitute," the President told reporters in an ambush interview after he cast his vote in Davao City.
A journalist critical of the President, Tordesillas has been tagged by Malacañang as among those allegedly plotting to oust Duterte.
In response to the president's statement, Tordesillas said: "Since Duterte does not have evidence to support his silly matrix, he is now resorting to vulgarity - the only language he knows.
"He is not in his right mind. He is a danger to the Filipino people."
The VERA Files founder has been included in a matrix that supposedly details a conspiracy to discredit the President. She earlier denied the allegation.
“It's downright false. It's hilarious. But what I find disturbing is, if this is the kind of intelligence report that the President gets and bases his actions and policies on, the country is in big trouble,” Tordesillas previously said in a statement.
Tordesillas is also a blogger whose opinion pieces are also published by several newspapers and websites, including news.abs-cbn.com.
Ellen Tordesillas, Rodrigo Duterte, prostitute, media, press freedom, matrix, VERA Files