MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio has rejected calls from some members of the House of Representatives for her to step down if she is already not interested in performing her duties and functions.
According to Duterte-Carpio, she will not respond to “young guns” like Jil Bongalon of Ako Bicol party-list and David Suarez of Quezon Province’s 2nd District as she is answerable to the 32 million voters who trusted her during the 2022 national elections.
“Hindi ako aalis dito dahil inilagay ako ng mga tao dito (who are) believing that I will work for the country. That is what we did. We worked,” Duterte-Carpio said in a press conference.
“Hindi naman kasi ako sasagot sa young guns dahil kailangan ko sumagot sa 32 million na bumoto sa akin, hindi sa isa or dalawa na tao,” she added.
Bongalon and Suarez said on Tuesday that Duterte-Carpio should step down as her and the Office of the Vice President’s absence in the House of Representatives’ budget deliberations is a sign of disinterest.
Duterte-Carpio, however, said that, unlike in the House of Representatives, she and the OVP will attend the plenary session at the Senate.
The Vice President also stated that she is no longer expecting the OVP’s proposed budget to remain the same, adding that they will just work around any budget given to them.
“Sa P700 million, we will see kung ano ‘yung naiwan and then we will work around that budget of the Office of the Vice President. Pero definitely, tuloy pa rin ang trabaho anuman ang budget,” Duterte-Carpio said.
“Pero wala na kaming expectation na mahabol pa ‘yan. Kasi nga, sinabi ko, doon sa interview ko, pagdating sa bicam, kung saan nandoon na ‘yung dalawa — the Senate and the House of Representatives — wala ding nasusunod doon except si Zaldy Co at si Martin Romualdez,” she added./PN
