Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

House Assistant Majority Leader Ako-Biicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon has asked Vice President Sara Duterte to "show some humility" and to not turn the current administration into her "punching bag". 

In a statement Monday morning, Aug. 12, Bongalon expressed befuddlement as to why Vice President Duterte became critical all of a sudden of the administration of her former "UniTeam" partner, President Marcos. 

“Why are we hearing all these only now? It only shows what kind of politician she is. She will make it appear that she’s an ally if it will only suit her interests, then attack when she no longer needs the use for it. She has just shown her true colors,” he said. 

“Show some humility, Ms. VP! Your complaints could have been addressed, and they could have resulted in more productive endeavors if you had raised them early on. Don’t make government your punching bag,” Bongalon said. 

Vice President Duterte was the Department of Education (DepEd) for two years, until last July 19 when he turned over her post to erstwhile Senator Sonny Angara. 

Almost immediately, she launched a "litany" of rants against the administration, beginning with her supposed difficulties with the DepEd budget. 

“Did she even help our overburdened and overworked public school teachers? At one point, I can still vividly recall that she suggested holding Saturday classes only to catch up with the targeted June school calendar opening, which President Marcos politely declined,” Bongalon said.  

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The Bicolano told the second highest-ranked official of the land that raising all these sour-grape issues were “counter-productive” as they should have been addressed during her tenure while she enjoyed massively high ratings. 

“When you were DepEd chief, did you even attempt to improve learning competencies?” asked Bongalon, who like the lady official is a lawyer.
 
“The hands of public school teachers are full; the last thing they need is an additional burden on their shoulders. I don’t even think the ratio per student class, along with the heavy administrative work of teachers, have been reduced,” he said. 
 
“Don’t be ungrateful to the government, Madam VP. Anyway, it’s government – whose lifeblood (taxes) is sourced from taxpayers’ hard-earned money – that has been responsible for paying the salaries of your nearly 400 bodyguards,” the party-list solon sarcastically said.