Impeachment raps vs VP Sara not due to her being 2028 polls frontrunner—Palace
Malacañang belied the claims of Vice President Sara Duterte that the impeachment complaint against her was heavily influenced by her being the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential polls.
PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro and Vice President Sara Duterte
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said Duterte claiming that the impeachment complaints against her were politically motivated was only a diversionary tactic.
She pointed out that the impeachment complaint was due to the anomalies in relation to the spending of the Office of the Vice President's confidential funds, among others.
“Siguro 'yan po ang nais niyang naratibo, ipakita sa taumbayan. Pero nawawala po yung issue patungkol sa kanyang accountability tungkol sa confidential funds at iba't iba pang complaints na napapaloob sa articles of impeachment (Perhaps that’s the narrative she wants to show the public—that she’s being targeted because she’s the frontrunner. But this distracts from the real issue about her accountability regarding the confidential funds and the various complaints included in the articles of impeachment),” Castro said in a Palace briefing on Thursday, June 26.
The Palace official stressed that they simply want the truth to be revealed, adding that the vice president should not hide behind the narrative that she’s leading the polls for the 2028 presidential elections.
“Sabi nga natin kapag ikaw ay taong gobyerno at public servant ka, obligasyon mo na ipakita lahat at sagutin na kakasangkutan mo (As we’ve said, when you are a government official and a public servant, it is your obligation to be transparent and to answer any issues involving you),” Castro said.
“Ine-expect po natin 'yan kay VP Sara dahil mukhang diversionary tactic po (We expect that from VP Sara because this appears to be a diversionary tactic),” Castro added.
In an interview on Wednesday, Duterte claimed that “one particular member of the House of Representatives already said publicly that there was money in exchange for the signatures in the Articles of Impeachment, because I am the frontrunner in the presidential race in 2028, the survey shows that. And I think they want to eliminate the frontrunner.”