VP Duterte explains withdrawal of Edsa anniversary message

Vice President Sara Duterte (PHOTO FROM INDAY SARA DUTERTE FACEBOOK PAGE)

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said her EDSA anniversary message was deleted to maintain consistency with the absence of such statements from her office since she was elected in 2022.

“I did not intend to issue a statement this year as I did not the previous year,” Duterte said in a statement.

“Because of this, I removed the Edsa anniversary post from my social media page. I hope this will put the matter to rest,” she added.

According to Duterte, however, her message on the Edsa anniversary remains the same as her position in 2017.

Duterte did not exactly specify what she was referring to in 2017.

Still, it can be recalled that she defended her father, then-President Rodrigo Duterte, who was accused by critics of “defacing” the memory of the Edsa People Power revolution, which forced then-president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. out of power.

The Vice President recalled then how her father took their entire family to where the people celebrated the end of Marcos regime in 1986 and claimed that her father “perfectly understood the spirit of Edsa.”

“Let me tell you what freedom is. It is to live a life that is free from your selective moral standard. This is the meaning of Edsa,” the younger Duterte said.

In a now-deleted statement, Vice President Duterte praised the “brave souls who stood united” in the streets of Edsa to fight for democracy and freedom.

She also urged the public to remember the lessons of the Edsa People Power, which she said was the power of unity, Filipino spirit, and standing up for what is right.

However, the statement was deleted a few moments after it was posted.