Dalipe: House will be united to stop threatening remarks vs members

MANILA, Philippines — Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe believes the House of Representatives will be united in fighting off threats against its members amid verbal attacks from former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Dalipe, in a statement on Thursday, said this in response to questions as to whether or not the House will support any case that ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro would file against Duterte.

Duterte has been accused of threatening Castro after he admitted in an interview with Sonshine Media Network International that he advised his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, to be just frank about where the confidential funds (CF) would be used — to supposedly kill communists like the lawmaker.

“I think the House will be united to stop all of these statements that are not really needed to be issued by any person,” Dalipe said.

“We do not want that anybody would just issue a death threat to any senator or to any congressman, or even to the president of the Philippines, vice president of the Philippines. Hindi po puwede (we cannot allow that),” he added.

READ: Ex-President Duterte made a direct threat to Rep. Castro’s life – group

Castro was the subject of Duterte’s rants, which came after the House heeded her call to strip the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) of their CFs.

OVP and DepEd, headed by Vice President Duterte, asked for P500 million and P150 million CFs, respectively, for 2024.  The House, however, removed the CF of these offices and other civilian agencies whose mandate does not include surveillance, allocating it instead to those in charge of securing the West Philippine Sea.

Dalipe meanwhile likened Duterte’s threats to making a bomb hoax at airports — which, while it may not be true, is an act prohibited by law.

“Parang pumupunta ka sa airport tapos sasabihin mo may dala-dala kang bomba na it’s just a joke, so the House takes that threat seriously,” he said.

(It’s like going to an airport and then saying that you have a bomb as a joke, but the House takes that threat seriously.)

This is not the first time Dalipe spoke on the issue concerning Duterte and the House.  On Wednesday, the Majority leader questioned the way the former president is looking at the legislative chamber when it is virtually the same body that helped him during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Dalipe, a lot of the members of the 19th Congress were also part of the 18th Congress — which took office when Duterte was still president.

The same 18th Congress was responsible for the laws crafted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, lasting from March 2020 to the end of Duterte’s term in June 2022.

Castro has thanked the House leadership for rushing to her defense despite their differences on the political spectrum.  According to the lawmaker’s camp, they are mulling charges against the former president.

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