Sara keeps mum on confidential funds

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte declined to address questions raised about confidential funds and her impending impeachment trial by a party-list lawmaker she accused of being controlled by Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Her statement came after Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre criticized Duterte for being confident about her chances of winning in the impeachment trial, questioning where the confidence was coming from when she has failed to explain before lawmakers how she spent millions in confidential funds.

“It’s not that I can’t explain. What I do is I refuse to explain, especially to members of the House of Representatives. Because, I’ll give you an example, the owner of Tingog party-list is Martin Romualdez,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

The Vice President also called on the public to not vote for the party-list as she claims this gives Romualdez “three seats” at the House of Representatives – his district in Tacloban and the seat of his wife Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez and that of Acidre.

Duterte had been criticizing Romualdez even before her falling out with President Marcos last year, accusing him of having ambitions to become president.

On Feb. 5, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte, with more than 200 lawmakers supporting the complaint. She was charged with betrayal of public trust, violating the Constitution, graft and corruption, among other high crimes.

Meanwhile, Duterte hit Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro for saying fake news is to blame for the drop in Marcos’ approval and trust ratings in the latest Pulse Asia survey.

“All of us are victims of fake news, right? Everyone has been a victim of it,” she said.

She went on to say since Castro shares the same surname as that of ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro – one of the Vice President’s fiercest critics – “nothing good ever came out” of their mouths.

Palace responds

Asked to react to Vice President Duterte’s statement that her lawyers were “more than confident” of winning the impeachment case against her, Malacañang’s response was: “Let them be.”

“If that is their strategy, let them be,” Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

“The impeachment trial is not in the hands of the President. Whatever happens there, that is in the hands of the Senate,” the Palace press officer added. –  Alexis Romero