Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, Nov. 25, said she will not back down against President Marcos and his allies whom she called out for what she described as “political harassment” against her and “terrorized” officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearing on DepEd and OVP's budget utilization on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (Santi San Juan/MANILA BULLETIN)
In an interview on the sidelines of the House good government committee hearing on the OVP and Department of Education’s (DepEd) misuse of confidential funds during her time as secretary there, the official stood her ground and said she plans to fight back.
“Hindi ko pa nababasa ang kanyang statement, pero pag nabasa ko na, maghanda kami ng sagot, kasi hindi ko rin palalampasin ang ginawa nila sa akin (I haven’t read his [President Marcos] statement but when I read it, we will be ready with an answer, I will also not let them off with what they’re doing to me),” she said.
Marcos, in a statement aired by various news sites, promised to block what he described as a “criminal attempt” amid Duterte’s viral video wherein she claimed to have employed an assassin to kill the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she herself gets killed.
While the President made no mention of Duterte, he criticized attempts to cover up the truth and urged the attendance to the House committee hearing to help lawmakers seek the truth.
The committee temporarily suspended its hearing into the OVP’s and DePed’s confidential funds utilization to give way to a plenary session to be led by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, one of those whom Duterte said she hired an assassin for if she ever gets killed.
This also marked the second time that the Vice President attended the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearing, and it came after her chief-of-staff, OVP Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was cited in contempt and put in detention.
Duterte, who went to the hearing to support four other OVP officials who were earlier subpoenaed and have now decided to face the panel, said she expects to be cited in contempt as well.
“Yes, we expect that, we expect contempt, detention. Ang term ni Usec. Leika (Usec. Leika’s term) is terrorizing me. We expect them to terrorize the Office of the Vice President personnel,” she added.
Lopez is currently confined at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) after falling ill and collapsing when the House good government committee ordered her transfer to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City.
In the same interview, she explained that she took the oath at the committee hearing for the sake of the the OVP personnel who attended.
"Clearly, sinasabi ni Joel Chua doon (Joel Chua was saying there), we will not recognize you without an oath. And then, I'm continuing to question the constitutionality of their rules, pero (but) I cannot help the personnel of the Office of the Vice President if I have no personality to speak in that hearing," she said.
But the Vice President also lamented that “we don't trust anymore in this country” when asked if she would file a case before the Supreme Court to question Congress’ contempt powers.
“You don't expect justice anymore in this country. This is clear political harassment. This is clear political persecution. Pag threat sa'yo, balewala. Pag threat sa kanila, national security (If you are being threatened, that’s nothing. If there’s a threat to them, it’s national security),” she said.
The official added that she’s ready to face any case, including an impeachment case, that will be filed against her “in the proper venue.”
Duterte also expressed willingness to cooperate with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which said they will subpoena the Vice President over her remarks about having hired someone to kill the First Couple and Romualdez.