Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio tore at House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in a series of posts on her verified Instagram account Thursday, over quotes attributed to him where he supposedly called her part of the opposition and allegedly said he can impeach President Rodrigo Duterte because of his position in Congress.
Alvarez, however, denied saying these at all.
Posting a photo of Alvarez on Instagram (@indaysaraduterte), Duterte-Carpio wrote, “Kung asshole ka sa Congress (If you’re an asshole in Congress, don’t bring that to Davao. Leave it in Manila. Somebody should tell the President what you are doing. How dare you call me part of the opposition. Kapal ng mukha mo (You have some nerve). You messed with the wrong girl.”
Duterte-Carpio recently launched the group Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP, or Alliance for Change).
According to reports, her party is being supported by four of five provincial governors in Davao Region – Antonio Rafael del Rosario of Davao del Norte, Claude Bautista of Davao Occidental, Nelson Dayanghirang of Davao Oriental, and Jayvee Tyron Uy of Compostela Valley.
Alvarez, who is PDP-Laban’s secretary general and is also from Davao, has been traveling around the country in the past months to preside over the oathtaking of new PDP-Laban members.
In a press release, he claimed he never said that Duterte-Carpio is part of the opposition.
“Hindi ko alam kung saan nanggaling ‘yung kwento na ‘yan… Panong magiging part of the opposition, eh part ng administration ‘yan (I don’t know where that yarn came from … How can she be part of the opposition when she is part of the administration)?” he asked.
The Speaker said somebody may have fed her the wrong information.
The press release also noted that he had said the Davao City Mayor’s formation of a regional political party is a “non-issue” and should be respected.
In a subsequent post on Instagram, also of a photo of the Speaker, Duterte-Carpio wrote, “Ano sabi mo in a crowd, ‘President, iba siya. Speaker ako, I can always impeach him!’ (You said in a crowd, ‘As a President, he’s different. I’m the Speaker, I can always impeach him!). And you call me opposition? Somebody should really tell the President about the truth.”
Then she posted a photo of all the senators with the caption, “Tell PRD kung ano ginagawa ni Alvarez sa inyo (what Alvarez is doing to you). The only way the President will know is if you will speak up.”
In reply, Alvarez told House reporters, “Hindi ko po sinabi ‘yun at hindi ko po maaaring sabihin ‘yun. Lubos po ang aking pagsuporta sa ating Pangulo (I did not say that and I cannot say that. I fully support our President).”
