President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook, PPAB)

House Assistant Majority Leader Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong can't help but compare the country’s top two officials--President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte--amid their ongoing, high-profile spat.

Adiong sees one of them as a laser-focused leader, while the other seems to be more involved with political drama.

“The President is laser focused in addressing the most pressing issues of the nation,” Adiong said, referring to the Chief Executive’s request for House members to refrain from impeaching the Vice President despite her rants. Marcos said that ultimately, Duterte was 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...And the VP who seems to evade accountability by threatening the security of the highest officials of government,” the Mindanao congressman noted.

Duterte, who recently made headlines by issuing death threats to President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez has been taunting the government to impeach her.

Adiong, a member of the "Young Guns" bloc, said Duterte’s problems started when she refused to leave House of Representatives premises when she visited her detained chief-of-staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez last month.

Duterte has been defying invitations from the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability for her to explain the P612.5 million in total confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 alloted to her offices--the Office of the Vice President (OVP), and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she headed from June 30, 2022 to July 19 of this year. 

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

And when the members of the panel headed by Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua decided to transfer Lopez to the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, Duterte unleashed her ire, and vowed 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 rather rhetorically. In this case Duterte is the constitutional successor. 

“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,” said Adiong.

Lopez released

In a related development, the Chua panel ordered the release of OVP Chief-of-staff Lopez after spending 10 days in detention based on a contempt order it had issued to her.

House Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas was instructed in a one-page order to release Lopez following the completion of a medical examination.

The order underscored Lopez’s formal commitment to fully cooperate with the ongoing legislative investigation.

“In view of the undertaking to attend all hearings, you are hereby ordered to immediately release Atty. Zuleika T. Lopez after a medical examination has been conducted on her,” the release order stated.

Lopez was cited for contempt and detained on Nov. 20 for what the committee described as “undue interference” in the legislative process and for providing “evasive” answers during the inquiry.

The accusation of interference stemmed from a letter she sent to the Commission on Audit (COA) wherein she urged the constitutional body to disregard a congressional subpoena for audit reports on the OVP’s confidential expenses in 2022 and 2023.