ZAMBALES Rep. Jay Khonghun and La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V urged Vice President Sara Duterte and to stop deflecting issues and address her absence during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Carina, the unexplained use of P125 million in confidential funds, extrajudicial killings in Davao, and other issues.
Khonghun and Ortega made the appeal in reaction to an open letter Duterte addressed to Muslim Filipinos in which she claimed the country is going nowhere.
“Ma’am, kayo po ang wala sa bansa nang bayuhin ng super typhoon Carina ang mga Pilipino. Nasa bakasyon po kayo.”
Khonghun said. “Please naman po do your duty as the country’s No. 2 official.”
“The last we heard from her was when she left with her entourage at the height of super typhoon Carina, while the President and all of us were preparing for the storm’s onslaught,” Ortega for his part said.
“Hanggang ngayon hindi ipinapaliwanag ni Ma’am Sara sa mga tao kung papaano niya nagastos ng 11 days ang P125 million confidential funds,” Khonghun recalled.
“May issue rin ng extra-judicial killings noong mayor kayo, ang tahimik nyo?” Ortega asked.
“Tama na po ‘yung reklamo mam. Magtrabaho po tayo at tulong-tulong tayo para mapaunlad ang bansa,” Ortega said.
“I am appealing to our Muslim brothers, and our countrymen in general, to take the contents of Ma’am Sara’s letter with a grain of salt,” he said.
Ortega recalled that the Vice President “made a big issue, a mountain out of a molehill,” of the recent recall by the Philippine National Police of 75 of her policemen-bodyguards so they could be assigned street patrol duties.
“It now turns out that she still has more than 400 security personnel,” he said.
