PALACE press officer Claire Castro yesterday said Vice President Sara Duterte should stop being selfish and refrain from acting like a child, following the latter’s statement that she would not help the Marcos administration in implementing its goal to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilo.
Castro, in a briefing in Malacañang, said Duterte is showing her true colors with her pronouncement.
Duterte, in an interview, had said that the P20 per kilo rice is possible but she would not share her knowledge on how to realize it because she doesn’t want to help Marcos.
“Sa pag-amin niya pong ito na hindi niya ishe-share kung anuman ang kanyang kaalaman, kung mayroon man talagang kaalaman, dahil nga sa ayaw niyang pagtulong sa ating Pangulo, ito’y nagpapakita ng isang makasarili… Hindi ba nga po naiisip ng Bise Presidente ang kapakanan ng taumbayan lalo na po’t iyong iba ay nahihirapang bumili ng bigas kahit na nga po mababa ang presyo ng bigas. (Her statement that she will not share any of her knowledge, if she really has any knowledge, because she does not want to help the president, shows her selfishness. Doesn’t the vice president think about the welfare of the people especially those who are having difficulty buying rice even at low price),” she said.
“Tandaan po natin, ang paglilingkod sa bayan ay hindi isang laro. Ang gobyerno, ang bansa ay hindi isang malaking playground, huwag naman po sanang maging asal bata ang bise presidente (Let us remember that serving the people is not a game. The government, the country is not a big playground. The vice president should not behave like a child),” she added.
Marcos and Duterte had a falling out after the latter’s resignation last year as secretary of the Department of Education over their political differences.
Marcos, when he ran for president in 2022, promised to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilo.
The P20 per kilo rice program was initially implemented in Cebu last May 1 and the rest of the Visayas on May 2.
The government wants to expand it to the rest of the country by the end of the year.
