PBBM’s ‘selflessness’ rises above VP Duterte’s self-interest to take over Malacañang – Mindanao House leader

THE “striking difference” between the selflessness of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. over the self-styled political drama of Vice President Sara Duterte can be clearly seen in their pronouncements, a Mindanao House leader said Sunday.

“The President is laser focused in addressing the most pressing issues of the nation,” House Assistant Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, House Ad Hoc Committee on Marawi Rehabilitation and Victims Compensation chairman,
said, referring to the Chief Executive’s request for House members to refrain from impeaching the Vice President despite her rants, emphasizing that she is unimportant and a waste of time.

“There is a striking contrast between the character of the President who is looking out for the welfare of the Filipino people and putting the interest of the country first,” Adiong pointed out.

“And the VP who seems to evade accountability by threatening the security of the highest officials of government,” he reiterated, even as Duterte has been taunting government to impeach her, with repeated threats to Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.

According to one of the leaders of the “Young Guns” group of the House of Representatives, Duterte’s problems started with herself when she refused to leave the House premises when she visited her detained chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, who was released late Saturday afternoon by the House Blue Ribbon panel.

Duterte has been defying invitations from the House for her to explain the P612.5 million in total confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 that her offices, the Office of the Vice President (OVP), and the Department of Education (DepEd) that she headed in July 2022 until July of this year.

She specifically refused to attend hearings from the House committee on good government and public accountability on the basis that she has her hands full, but all of a sudden went to the House before midnight of November 25 to visit Lopez, and insisted on spending the night there.

And when the members of the panel headed by Manila Rep. Joel Chua decided to transfer Lopez to the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, it was at this point where Duterte unleashed her ire, vowing to have the First Couple and the Speaker killed.

“So, let’s make this very simple: When the President is killed, who will take over?” Adiong asked, noting that it doesn’t take a scientist to make sense out of the grumblings Duterte has been making for the past week.

“A threat is a threat no matter what, even if it’s perceived to be conditional. The intent is there, the plan to kill the President was made in public. And she uttered ‘no joke’ not once, but twice. What can be clearer than that? Filipinos are not stupid,” he stressed.