VP Duterte jokes with Romualdez: Return or I’ll replace you as Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday jokingly told Speaker Martin Romualdez to return promptly to the Batasang Pambansa Complex, or she would soon replace him.

Duterte made the remark during an online press conference where she said she had many suggestions on how to improve the official headquarters of the House of Representatives.

The vice president is currently staying “indefinitely” at her brother Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte’s office so she can visit her chief of staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, who is under the custody of the Congress’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Despite this, Duterte lauded the lower chamber for having austerity measures, saying she was informed about scheduled power and water outages in the complex to reduce government spending.

“This is one thing na we have to give to the House of Representatives, i-recognize ‘yung kanilang austerity measures, pagpatay ng kuryente at ng tubig — actually marami akong suggestions sa Speaker of the House, on what to improve on the compound, meron akong suggestions,” said Duterte.

(This is one thing we have to give to the House of Representatives — recognizing their austerity measures, like cutting off electricity and water. Actually, I have a lot of suggestions for the Speaker of the House on how to improve the compound.)

READ: VP Duterte ignores request to leave House after visiting chief of staff

“But yes, baka pagbalik niya sa Lunes ako na Speaker dito, VP-Speaker na tawag niyo lahat sa’kin. Bumalik na siya,” she added.

(But yes, maybe when he returns on Monday, I’ll be the Speaker here. You would all be calling me VP-Speaker. He should come back.)

She then acknowledged that Romualdez was in Samar for the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair, which she claimed to be one of the Speaker’s vote-buying tactics.

“I understand nasa Samar ba siya? Meron na naman siyang vote buying activities sa Samar,” she said.

(I understand he’s in Samar, right? He has vote-buying activities there again.)

INQUIRER.net has sought a comment from Romualdez’s camp on this but has yet to receive a response as of this writing.