VP Sara denounces Makabayan bloc
VICE President Sara Duterte cautioned the public against the fake issues being peddled by the Makabayan bloc.
Duterte told the public not to fall for the “fakery” made by Makabayan Bloc or its disgusting deliberate effort to twist the narrative to favor their interest and the interest of the New People’s Army, Communist Party of the Philippines and National Democratic Front.
The Vice President issued a statement after the Makabayan bloc criticized her for wearing a Indigenous tribe dress during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) but allowed IP schools to be shut down in Davao Region.
She said the Makabayan bloc is desperate to spin around issues like shutting down Salugpongan schools and red-tagging former Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat.
“Makabayan Bloc, with member partylist groups suffering the tragedy of losing during in the election last May — and this is something that speaks volumes of their relevance today and could, even more, speak volumes of their contribution to nation building, or the apparent lack of it — now attempts to make the Filipino public believe that their intentions are noble when they curiously started this tit-for-tat with a criticism of that Bagobo Tagabawa dress I wore to the SONA,” Duterte said.
The former Davao City Mayor explained that Salugpungan schools in Davao were all shut down in 2019 because the schools were not serving the interest of the learners — that is to provide them with basic education.
“The Salugpongan schools in Davao were all shut down because they lacked permits and documents that would have lent legitimacy to the existence and operations of the schools,” she said.
“While the Salugpungan schools were shut down because they were illegally operating — the schools were run by teacher volunteers who allegedly had links with the terrorist group New People’s Army, the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines,” she added.
Duterte also said that “they may have the genuine passion to serve IP children and the desire to see IP children emancipated from illiteracy, ignorance, and perhaps poverty, but this passion has been misplaced, stolen, and lost in the ideology of the NPA.”
“The dress that I wore to the SONA and why I wore it doesn’t really interest Cullamat and the rest of Makabayan Bloc. They can lie about it but the Salugpongan schools that we shut down do not also matter to them. And the IP children being potential recruits of the NPA is something that’s within their political agenda so it’s only convenient for them to turn a blind on eye on this,” she also said.
Meanwhile, Duterte said she is happy to note and congratulate the Filipino people for finally purging Congress with the likes of Bayan Muna and Eufemia Cullamat.
“That Bayan Muna and Eufemia Cullamat have been removed from the halls of Congress means that the country, the Filipino children, most especially the IP children, are now more protected from the ideology of destruction and war that Makabayan Bloc espouses,” she said.
“More Filipino families can now sleep soundly at night and wake up in the morning hopeful that their children will get the education that they truly need — not from the Salugpongan NPA-influenced instruction being forced by the Makabayan Bloc to us,” the Vice President added.