5 hours Ago By James Patrick Cruz
window.rapplerAds.displayAd( "middle-1" );window.
rapplerAds.displayAd( "mobile-middle-1" );For two consecutive days now, Vice President Sara Duterte has been joining the campaign rallies of Isko Moreno, who is seeking to return to Manila City Hall. Moreno doesn’t really need her help, based on his survey numbers, so why is she suddenly appearing in his sorties?Aside from the most obvious reason, which is to campaign for her camp’s Senate bets and attacking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
(and indirectly, his Alyansa slate), the Vice President is also apparently on a revenge tour, going after those who had impeached her. On Thursday, April 24, Duterte joined Moreno in his childhood neighborhood, Tondo, which also happens to be the turf of reelectionist Manila 2nd District Representative Rolando Valeriano, a known Duterte critic.She openly mocked Valeriano and even mimicked his voice on stage.
“Yung congressman ninyo, ‘yan ‘yung mukha ng distrito ninyo. ‘Yan yung pambato ninyo doon sa House of Representatives. Unang-una sa sobrang laki ng leeg niya naiipit na ‘yung boses niya,” she said.
(Your congressman, that’s the face of your district. He’s your champion in the House of Representatives. First of all, his neck is so big that it’s choking his own voice.
)Months earlier, in September last year, Valeriano had delivered a scathing privilege speech against the Vice President, which triggered the House probe into her alleged misuse of public funds. He was also among those who impeached her.The following day, Friday, April 25, she joined another Moreno rally, this time in Quiapo — the turf of reelectionist Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua who led the House probe into her alleged fund misuse at the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President.
At the Friday rally, Moreno kept his remarks brief, choosing instead to give the spotlight to the Vice President. Instead of the usual campaign endorsement, Duterte dedicated most of her lengthy speech to vilifying and cursing Chua.“Putangina niya rin.
Nandito ako ngayon sa distrito niya. Nagpapakilala ako sa inyong lahat, ako si Sara Duterte, kaya kong makipagaway sa kanal,” Duterte said. (He’s a son of a bitch.
I’m here in his district right now. Let me introduce myself to all of you, I’m Sara Duterte, and I can fight anyone, even in the gutter.)She even brought her own prop — an apple — to endorse Chua’s opponent, Apple Nieto.
When a child asked Duterte for the apple she was holding, she replied that it was meant for Chua.“Ma’am (Apple) saksak mo ito sa bibig ni Apple Chua hanggang sa kanyang lalamunan hanggang siya ay mamatay,” said Duterte whose anger apparently caused her to mix up Chua’s and Nieto’s name.window.
rapplerAds.displayAd( "middle-2" );window.rapplerAds.
displayAd( "mobile-middle-2" );She also referenced Snow White, who died after eating the poisoned apple given by the Evil Queen. So, why all the fury?During one hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability on Duterte’s alleged fund misuse, the Vice President sidestepped key questions. This prompted Chua to call her an “entitled brat” during a post-hearing press conference.
In another hearing presided by the Manila congressman in September, Duterte refused to take her oath.It was also Chua’s panel that ordered the House detention of Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, an incident that caused the latter to have an anxiety attack. This episode led to the Vice President’s midnight online rampage in a virtual press conference where she “threatened” to have the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated in the event that she was killed.
Chua was also one of the first lawmakers outside the Makabayan bloc to call for Duterte’s resignation from the Marcos Cabinet. He is also among the House prosecutors in Duterte’s impeachment trial.Must Read Who are the prosecutors in Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial? Duterte’s speech was so focused on attacking Chua that she seemed to overlook the two senatorial candidates she recently endorsed.
While she urged the crowd to support the “Duterte 10” or the Senate slate of the Duterte-led PDP-Laban, she failed to mention Camille Villar and Imee Marcos. She and Marcos stood side by side at the Moreno campaign rally in Tondo just the day before.When Rappler asked why the Vice President chose to campaign in the backyard of her House critics, she brushed it off, saying Moreno had invited her to join the rallies.
The Vice President’s attacks on the two congressmen did not extend to their work in Congress. She also did not give any reason for voters to choose their rivals, other than the fact that Valeriano and Chua had been critical of her.With only over two weeks before the elections, is Duterte on a personal crusade to eliminate her critics who are running in the 2025 elections? Which area will she she target next? – Rappler.
