‘Where were you, ma’am’ during typhoon? – young lawmakers to VP

FILE PHOTO: Vice President Sara Duterte. INQUIRER / RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — Neophyte lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Sunday took exception to Vice President Sara Duterte’s claims on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s supposed failure to fund flood control projects in Davao City, citing netizens’ tagging her as #LakwatSara over her Germany trip while Supertyphoon Carina pummeled the country.

Assistant Majority Leaders Jefferson Khonghun and Francisco Paolo Ortega V slammed Duterte’s tirades against Mr. Marcos, saying she was the one who went missing when Filipinos needed help.

Khonghun, the Zambales representative, pointed out that it was the Vice President who was branded “#LakwatSara” by netizens during Carina’s onslaught. “Wasn’t that the height of irresponsibility?” the lawmaker said, referring to Duterte’s traveling to Germany just during the typhoon.

He added in Filipino, “You’re the second highest official of the land and you would play truant at the height of torrential rains and typhoon? You’re still not back in the country and all you do is complain.”

“Anybody who hears her criticisms against the President can only just say ‘Look who’s talking.’ Where were you when the people needed you? Marked safe from Carina being in Germany,” Khonghun said, adding, “Sana all talaga.”

The lawmaker further pointed out that former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father, had a full six years to fund the flood control program, including in Davao City. He added that Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, the Vice President’s brother, had a total P51-billion allocation for infrastructure projects in the last three years of their father’s term in Malacañang.

“Former President Duterte also had six years to accomplish this, but we don’t hear the Vice President saying anything about her father’s failure,” he said.

For his part, Ortega, the La Union representative, said, “It is perplexing to hear such criticisms from the Vice President, particularly during a time when the nation was grappling with the adverse impacts of [Supertyphoon] Carina and the southwest monsoon. While these natural calamities were unfolding, Vice President Duterte was reported to be in Germany.”

He pointed out that the timing and focus of Duterte’s commentary amid her travel during a national emergency shows a “disconnect that merits scrutiny.”

Ortega cited the flooding in Davao City in late June, where both her brother, Mayor Sebastian Duterte, and their father, former President Duterte, were absent, choosing instead to go to Tacloban City for purportedly political purposes.