CEBU CITY – Cebu fifth district Rep. Duke Frasco has broken his silence over his decision to sign the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
CEBU fifth district Rep. Duke Frasco (center). (FB)
Frasco was heavily criticized for backing Duterte's impeachment as he and his wife, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, were known to be allies of the Vice President.
Speaking before a public event in his hometown Liloan, Cebu on Tuesday, Feb. 11, Frasco cited two reasons why he decided to back the ouster of Duterte.
First, Frasco said projects and programs intended for his district may be compromised if he did not vote for Duterte's impeachment.
“(Ni sign ko sa impeachment) tungod ninyo. Tungod sa atong mga programa, proyekto, kalambuan. Di nako marisgo atong mga programa, mga proyekto sa lungsod sa Liloan kung di ko mukuyog sa kadaghanan (I signed the impeachment because of you. Because of our programs, projects, progress. I cannot risk our projects, programs in Liloan if I will not join the majority),” said Frasco.
Frasco said failing to sign the impeachment complaint may lead to his district getting “zero budget.”
The second reason why he backed the impeachment, he said, was their strained relationship with Duterte.
Frasco said the conflict started when his wife was heavily bashed on social media over the country’s “Love the Philippines” tourism slogan.
He said they learned that the “trolls” and social media influencers who criticized his wife were supporters of Duterte.
Frasco said they appealed to the Vice President to help them end the bashing by talking to social media influencers who were behind the online attacks against Christina.
Frasco said Duterte did not heed their appeal, saying she could not control social media users.
“Gihangyo gyud namo si VP Sara, didto gyud ko ani kuyog (We appealed to VP Sara. I was there),” said Frasco.
Frasco said their conflict with Duterte escalated when they learned that the Vice President visited their district without informing them.
He said they later learned that Duterte met their political opponents in the district.
Frasco is one of the nine lawmakers from Cebu who backed the Duterte impeachment. Two representatives from Cebu did not sign the impeachment complaint.