Word war between former president Duterte and Congress escalates

The word war between former president Rodrigo Duterte and the House of Representatives has continued to escalate, with the supermajority coalition asserting that the allegations he levied against the chamber are purely "baseless."

In an interview on Wednesday, Majority leader Mannix Dalipe said that the supermajority bloc—the largest in the chamber's history—was one in saying that Duterte's corruption and sabotaging allegations lack foundation.

"Hearing those statements, we take exception. It's baseless. His statements are baseless. We all agree [in the majority bloc] all of his statements are baseless," Dalipe said.

Dalipe was responding to Duterte's tirades against their honcho, Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom he accused of corruption and sabotaging his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte's request for confidential funds in the proposed 2024 budget.

Duterte accused the House of having hidden "pork barrel" —a controversial practice already declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in November 2013—and that the Commission on Audit should look into how it utilized its funds.

Duterte, a former Davao congressman from 1998 to 2001, also called Congress "the most rotten institution" in the country.

The House's decision to include his daughter's offices—Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education—in five agencies awarded zero confidential funds for next year prompted Duterte to make the insinuations.

The VP, who sought P500 million and P150 million in confidential funds for OVP and DepEd, respectively, previously accused critics of her secret funds of having "insidious motivations."

The majority bloc, Dalipe said, will not tolerate Duterte's assertions, mainly since a lot of its members, who was also congressman then during the ex-chief executive's tenure, "supported him during the 18th Congress [and] 17th Congress when he wanted our support for his legislative agenda."

"We were there for him during the Covid-19 pandemic when he needed funds," he said.

Dalipe added that the House even ensured that the Duterte administration had enough budget during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic "so that he could have the funds to distribute as aid."

"All the health sector needs during Covid time, we supported him in all of these."

Mindanaoan and Eastern Visayas congressmen likewise condemned Duterte's remark and fully backed Romualdez's "strong leadership."

Further, Dalipe shed light that the House—which passed the 2022 audit with flying colors– is not exempted from CoA audits and expressed strong conviction that "each and every congressman is responsible for liquidating whatever is given to them."

"Congress does not have any confidential and intelligence funds. If there is [extraordinary expenses], it is distributed to each and every congressman equally."

Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, who was red-tagged and threatened by Duterte of killing, will file grave threat raps against the former president in Quezon City.

"We are resolved to file a case. This is being handled by the lawyers who volunteered for the case," she said in an interview.

"He can't do that to any person. If he can tell me who is in the government service, what more to ordinary people," she said.

The progressive lawmaker has high hopes that Duterte will be held accountable for his misconduct and actions this time.

"He is no longer president now. He is no longer immune to suit," she said.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco earlier said that the House is all set to give Castro additional security following a death threat from Duterte.