Vice President Sara Duterte found an ally amid a lawmaker's call for impeachment against her as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) questioned the motive of the ACT Teachers party-list in wanting to oust the second highest official of the country.

NTF-ELCAC Strategic Communications Cluster Chairman Jonathan Malaya said the impeachment threat issued by ACT Teachers party-list against Duterte showed that the group was only good at “sowing intrigue.” Duterte was named as the vice chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC back in May.

"This shows their political agenda to always portray government in a bad light even before they get the compete picture. They do not wish to even hear the side of the Vice President and are hoping that they can smear the VP in the court of public opinion on the basis of conjecture and public speculation," Malaya said in a statement on Tuesday, August 29.

Last week, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro questioned the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) alleged use of P125 million in the second semester of calendar year 2022 as a confidential fund, citing an annual audit report released by the Commission on Audit (COA).

Castro said the OVP must explain how the budget was spent since Duterte's predecessor, Leni Robredo, had no allocation for such, unless she wanted to risk the possibility of facing impeachment for supposed misuse of public funds.

But for Malaya, the impeachment threat against Duterte, who has been serving her term for a little over one year, “is a clear weaponization of the power of impeachment.”

He said the party-list raised the threat even before the full details of the OVP’s budget spending were available, suggesting that the group failed to wait for the full report of COA.

“It proves that the ACT party-list is not and was never interested in getting to the facts. They are merely interested in getting as much political points they can get for the 2025 elections no matter who gets in their way,” Malaya said.

Malaya then urged the ACT Teachers party-list to “go back what they’re supposed to be doing” by serving the teachers sector instead of “weaponizing” the power of impeachment.

He also called on the group to bring the issues of the education sector to the Congress and work with Duterte and the Department of Education, which she concurrently heads as its secretary, to improve the quality of education in the country.

“Only then will the Filipino people truly believe that they represent the education sector in Congress and not the interests of those who wish to bring down the government and our democratic way of life,” Malaya concluded.

Castro has yet to respond to the NTF-ELCAC although she earlier withdrew her impeachment threat, noting that it might be “premature” to call for Duterte’s ouster. She, however, insisted that the alleged illegal fund realignment must be clarified by the OVP.

Duterte, on the other hand, welcomed any investigation that may be thrown her way as to the OVP’s budget spending in 2022.