House reps find Duterte’s tirades offensive, a serious attack – secretary general
MANILA, Philippines — A lot of members of the House of Representatives find the tirades made against by former President Rodrigo Duterte offensive and consider them a serious attack, Secretary General Reginald Velasco told reporters in an interview on Monday. Lawmakers are puzzled why Duterte would call the House the most rotten government institution when it’s constantly subjected to checks and balances, even by the Commission on Audit. Last Tuesday, Oct. 10, in his program “Gikas sa Masa, Para sa Masa,” (From the Masses, For the Masses) a nationally-televised program of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), Duterte accused House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of having a pork barrel supposedly being distributed to lawmakers. The former president also reportedly threatened ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro for advocating the realignment of confidential funds. ‘Threatened’ On Monday, reporters asked Velasco if the lawmakers were offended. “Well, it’s not just offended — threatened because he threatened a member [of the House],” Velasco said. “And then it seems — if you watched the entire video — it seems that he said if the House and other agencies are not audited, he will call on businessmen, military — so this appears to be a people power.” Reporters also asked if lawmakers considered Duterte’s statements a serious attack. “Oh, yes, oh, yes,” he said. “Because why would you talk like that when such agencies like the Senate, House, Office of the President are being audited? There is no exemption — [not] even the judiciary. So why threaten people that you will call for a people power when there’s auditing?” Velasco also said that he did not know if the President was serious when he issued the alleged threats against Castro. However, the House official said Castro haD the right to interpret the statements against her. ‘Serious death threat’ During the same SMNI interview, Duterte revealed that he advised his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte to just be frank about the purpose of the confidential funds, which is to supposedly kill communists like Castro. This was after Castro pushed for the removal of the P500 million and P150 million confidential funds allotted to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd), respectively — two agencies that the younger Duterte heads. READ: House answers Rodrigo Duterte’s rant after OVP lost secret funds “In that video, there really was a threat to kill — I
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