Pulong Duterte blasts Makabayan bloc: Stop hiding behind slogans

FILE PHOTO: Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of City Government of Davao

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte on Sunday told the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives to “stop hiding behind slogans,” as he called them “Maka-Kaban ng Bayan.”

Duterte had this to say amid the anti-corruption protest actions, which the members of the Makabayan bloc participated in, beginning at the Luneta Park in Manila early Sunday.

Duterte said that their actions do not reflect “service to the nation.”

ACT Teachers’ Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co, and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago addressed the thousands of people at Luneta Park, as they condemned corruption and called on the people to speak up against it.

But the Davao congressman posted a Facebook message addressed to the progressive lawmakers.

“You should be called Maka-Kaban ng Bayan, because it’s obvious that you are only benefiting from the public funds,” Duterte said in Filipino in a Facebook post.

“Stop hiding behind slogans, the people already see through the hypocrisy,” Duterte added.

READ: Makabayan: People’s anger, disgust towards corruption reasonable

Meanwhile, in response to Duterte’s Facebook post, Makabayan said that he is just trying to divert the issue from the flood control project “scam” in Davao.

“He’s just trying to get attention and divert the issue because the matter regarding flood control project scams in Davao is resurfacing,” the bloc said in Filipino in a short comment.

READ: Puno tells Duterte: Don’t be sullen but open for House flood probe

Duterte earlier took a swipe against Manila City 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante who said that while he was not accusing the former of anything, Davao City remained prone to flooding despite being allotted P51 billion for infrastructure projects during the last three years of the administration of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Davao City lawmaker then said that “every project allocated to my district has been properly implemented and completed.” /jpv