Vice President Sara Duterte has rejected calls for her resignation from some lawmakers who claim she is no longer interested in fulfilling her duties.
“I don’t talk to them [young guns of Congress]. I’m only talking to Zaldy Co and Martin Romualdez,” Duterte told reporters at a press briefing in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday afternoon.
Duterte previously accused some lawmakers of plotting her impeachment in an attempt to derail her potential presidential bid in the 2028 elections.
“What really happened is that they have no grounds for impeachment. That’s why they’re just looking for anything they can use against me,” Duterte said.
She added that while Representative France Castro and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV are calling for her impeachment, the so-called "young guns" in the House of Representatives are calling for her resignation.
“I will not respond to the young guns. I would only answer to the 32 million Filipinos who voted for me, not just to one or two persons,” Duterte said. “So, I am not stepping down because the people put me here believing that I will work for the country. That is what we did.”
The "young guns" the Vice President is referring to is a group of House members who are 40 years old and younger, with some of them in their first terms as congressmen.
To recall, House Assistant Majority Leader and Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Jil Bongalon called on Duterte to resign if she cannot fulfill her duties, following her absence from crucial budget deliberations.
Bongalon said Duterte’s absence during the deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget for the Office of the Vice President reflects a clear lack of interest in her responsibilities as the country’s second-highest official.
In other developments, the Vice President described the former undersecretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) as a "disgruntled employee" who was asked to let go for allegedly soliciting money from a private company using her name.
Duterte was referring to former DepEd Undersecretary for Human Resource and Organizational Development Gloria Mercado, who claimed that she received envelopes from the Vice President containing P50,000 each from February to September 2023.
“Maybe if she [Mercado] accuses like that, she must have a paper. Gloria Mercado is a disgruntled and former employee of the Department of Education. She was let go because of the loss of trust and confidence,” said the Vice President.
“She solicited P16 million from a private company using my name without any authorization from the Department of Education,” she added.