THE Department of Justice is assessing the legal implications of statements made recently by Vice President Sara Duterte, particularly on her threat to exhume the remains of former President Marcos Sr., the current President’s father, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday.
Remulla described Duterte’s remarks as “very disturbing and inappropriate” for the second highest official of the land.
Duterte, in a press conference last Friday, said the remains, after exhuming these from the Libingan ng mga Bayani, will be dumped at the West Philippine Sea. She also said she had daydreamed about cutting off President Marcos Jr.’s head, during a graduation ceremony they both attended.
Remulla said Duterte’s comments on exhuming the remains could be seen as disrespecting the memory of the deceased, disturbing the peace of the former president’s final resting place, and potentially breaching moral principles.
“Maraming kasing approaches diyan, pero (There are a lot of approaches but) it desecrates the memory of a person, it desecrates the peaceful state that he must be in, having already perished, and it would disturb the body,” Remulla told reporters in an ambush interview.
“And there are many other moral principles that are being violated, and we’re looking at the legal aspects also. We’re conducting a study,” he added.
Remulla also said Duterte’s remarks are unbecoming for a person of her rank.
“It does not augur well for the dignity of the office. We have to treat the office as sacred and to speak that way is unbecoming. Her remarks are very disturbing. If a person can think that way, and she holds a very high position, I think that’s disturbing,” he added.
Duterte issued the threat if, she said, the Marcos family and their supporters would continue to criticize her.
The Vice President said she told this to Sen. Imee Marcos, the sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Duterte called the press conference amid the revelations at a House inquiry that the Office of the Vice President, in 2022, spent P16 million for the rental of 34 safehouses in in just 11 days.
‘CUT TIES WITH SARA’
An ally of President Marcos Jr. at the House of Representatives said Senator Marcos should have immediately severed ties with Duterte after she threatened to exhume the remains.
Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., at a joint press conference with fellow House leaders, said in Filipino, “If I were Sen. Imee Marcos and someone said that about my father, I think we can no longer see each other and talk at that time.”
“I would say, this is too much of an insult. This is different,” said Gonzales, a member of the ruling Lakas-CMD.
Gonzales said what Duterte did was unbecoming of someone of her position, adding that such nasty things can only be heard as jokes in drinking sessions in the streets.
Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop said the House committee on good government chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua will continue its investigation into Vice President’s alleged mishandling of government funds despite her outbursts.
“The performance of one’s duty should be the primordial consideration. Trabaho po namin ‘yun e (That’s our job) and therefore, dapat walang (there should be no) let-up to show what really happened insofar as the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was still the secretary,” Acop told the same press conference.
Duterte resigned as education chief in June this year.
CHARACTER FLAW
Acop said the Vice President’s outbursts have exposed her “character flaw.” “And sometimes, how you manage the hate in your body and attacks against you, it’s also a test of your character,” he said.
“So in the case of the VP, it seems that a flaw in her character is coming out because her character is overwhelmed by her anger,” he said. “I think she is being overwhelmed by anger and hate. ‘Pag ang isang tao ay sobra-sobra ang galit, nawawala siya sa sense of decency (When a person is overwhelmed with anger, her sense of decency disappears).”
Some administration lawmakers earlier said the Vice President’s latest “meltdown” will not be enough to divert the people’s attention from her alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds in both the OVP and DepEd.
However, despite the serious nature of the allegations, Duterte has repeatedly refused to attend congressional hearings to clear her name and address the accusations of fund mismanagement.
PROFESSSIONAL HELP
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the Vice President should seek professional help as what she said against the current President was “not usual.”
“Actually, I’m worried about her. I think she needs to talk to some professionals and maybe some close friends and family so she can let out what she feels because it is not good if you don’t share what you think or feel,” Pimentel said in mixed Filipino and English in a press conference.
While it is good that the Vice President now serves as a government fiscalizer, Pimentel said, she should not have expressed her disappointments at a press conference.
Pimentel said what caught his attention was when Duterte talked about wanting to cut off the President’s head, and digging up the remains of the President’s father.
Pimentel said he initially thought that it was an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated speech as he could not believe that the second highest official of the country can utter such statements.
“I was surprised with what I heard. I thought it was an AI but it’s not. So, what the VP said were really unusual. To me it’s strange [because] in the first place she verbalized what was in her mind. I am not an expert in medical science, but maybe she needs to talk to someone… to family and close friends so she can let out what’s in her mind that should not have been done in a formal press conference,” he said.
With everything that has been said by Duterte against the President, Pimentel said the gap between the two has widened so much that it would be very difficult for the two sides to reconcile.
“I hope there will be someone who will attempt to mediate but I will not blame him or her if that will not succeed because the gap has widened much,” he said. — With Wendel Vigilia and Raymond Africa
