"Kung tatakbo ka, huwag kang tumakbo."

With a bit of word play, House Deputy Speaker La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V gave this rather deep, if not unsolicited, advice to Vice President Sara Duterte, who recently bared her intention to run for president in the 2028 polls.

What Ortega basically told Duterte was, "if you’re running, then won't run away."

He was alluding to the allegations of corruption that had been raised against Duterte in her impeachment complaints last year, as well as in the new complaints this year.

“Since she is in different light, you put her in a category na where she is running for the highest position in the land. If she wants to be the president, so kung mataas ang tatakbuhin mong position (if you’re running for a high position), you are held in higher standard. Kung tatakbo ka wag kang tumakbo, harapin mo (if you’re running, then won't run away. Face the allegations),” Ortega explained.

The ranking congressman also rejected the Vice President’s assertion that her name had long been destroyed by the members of House before her declaration of her Palace bid last Feb. 18.

“She had all of the time, she had the platform, she had the position to defend herself but she chose to be quiet about it and just turn her back,” Ortega said.

“So dapat po sinagot agad ‘yung mga alegasyon na ‘yan at sinagot na ‘yung mga binabato sa kanya, then maybe things should have been different (Those allegations should have been addressed right away, and the accusations thrown at her answered, then maybe things should have been different),” he noted.

It can be recalled that Vice President Duterte skipped most of the hearings of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, which in the previous 19th Congress looked into her alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds.