ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ortega responds to Mayor Duterte: 'Distraction din ginagawa nila'

Ortega responds to Mayor Duterte: 'Distraction din ginagawa nila'

Published Mar 4, 2025 07:42 am

At A Glance

  • House Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V has dismissed the remarks of Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte, who claimed that the impeachment of his Vice President-sister was merely a distraction created by the administration to overshadow the issue surrounding the 2025 national budget.

20250304_153443.jpgLa Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V (left), Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte (MANILA BULLETIN/ Facebook)

House Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V has dismissed the remarks of Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, who claimed that the impeachment of his Vice President-sister was merely a distraction created by the administration to overshadow the issue surrounding the 2025 national budget.

Mayor Duterte was referring to the House of Representatives' recent impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte. The Duterte siblings are the children of Marcos administration critic, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“Likewise, distraction din ‘yung ginagawa nila. Kasi nga hindi pa rin nila nasasagot si Mary Grace Piattos. So hanap-hanap distraction, hanap-hanap diversion para hindi pag-usapan, ah dumi-diskarte pa rin sila,” Ortega said.

(Likewise, what they're doing is also distraction. Because up to now, they haven't answered the issue on Mary Grace Piattos. So in a bid to avoid discussing it, they're looking for distractions, diversions, they're trying to come up with something.)

The mystery name Mary Grace Piattos has become symbolic of Vice President Duterte's alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds, which in turn has partly fueled the impeachment case against her.

Mary Grace Piattos was among the names that appeared in acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for confidential funds that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA). In the Philippines, "Mary Grace" is the name of a restaurant, while "Piattos" is a brand of potato chips.

In December 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that their database contained no records on the birth, marriage, or death of a Mary Grace Piattos.

On Dec. 30, President Marcos signed the P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025. A few weeks after, the Duterte camp challenged the legality of the P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025, which it claimed was akin to a "blank check" due to late insertions by lawmakers.

Last Feb. 5, the House of Representatives transmitted its impeachment complaint against the Vice President to the Senate, with the confidential funds issue cited as a major violation.

Ortega underscored the stark contrast between the evidence-backed impeachment process and the attempts of Duterte’s camp to derail the proceedings through unsubstantiated allegations.

The House leader pointed out that the impeachment process has been conducted transparently, with hearings broadcast live and made accessible to the public.

He contrasted this with the tactics employed by the Duterte camp, which he said rely on statements unsupported by official records.

“Ang layo po ng diperensya noon, kitang-kita po ng taong bayan kasi on record lahat. We were live, we were open to the public as compared ‘yung hindi naman nagsasalita, bigla na lang magsasalita ng ganyan. So theatrics lang talaga ‘yan, diversion,” Ortega added.

(There's a huge difference, it's obvious to the people because it's all on record. We were live, we were open to the public as compared to people suddenly making statements like that. So it's all theatrics, a diversion.)

Related Tags

Sara Duterte paolo Ortega Mary Grace Piattos BASTE DUTERTE Rodrigo Duterte
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.