Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Katrina Ponce Enrile clapped back at Vice President Sara Duterte for blaming her hometown Davao City’s flooding to President Marcos.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte (Ali Vicoy/MANILA BULLETIN)
The daughter of presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile noted that Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, should have solved their hometown’s flooding issues during his administration.
Her remarks were delivered in the maiden episode of “Leslie Bocobo Live” aired over state-run Radyo ng Pilipinas.
“Anim na taon silang naka-upo. Bakit hindi nila binigyan ng tuon noong panahon nila. Anim na taon silang naka-upo e kung mag-complain sila. Huwag nating isisi iyan sa isang president (They were in power for six years. Why didn’t they address it during their time. They were there for six years but they’re complaining. We shouldn’t blame the president for that),” she said.
“Huwag naman lahat ng problem ng bayan ay ipupukol nila kay Presidente Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Dapat patas lang ang banat nila (They shouldn’t blame all the country’s problems to Presidente Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. They should be fair in their criticisms),” she added.
t can be recalled the Vice President criticized the Marcos administration for failing to fund Davao City’s flood control program simply because the mayor of the city was a Duterte.
Her brother, Sebastian Duterte, is the city’s local chief executive.
But lawmakers, including Senate President Francis Escudero, were baffled at Duterte’s criticism, pointing out that her father was the president for six years while brother Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte had a P51-billion allocation for infrastructure projects during the last three years of the Duterte administration.
During her father’s time, the Vice President was Davao City mayor.
According to Duterte, her father’s administration finalized a master plan and a feasibility study for the city’s flood control and drainage that was published only in July 2023.
The Vice President’s criticism of Marcos came after she resigned as his Department of Education (DepEd) secretary.
In February 2024, she even thanked the President for visiting the Davao region to deliver aid to the victims of flooding and landslide.