Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Points Out Freedom of Speech amid Cong. Kiko Barzaga’s Suspension
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President broke her silence on the House of Representatives suspending Cavite Cong. Kiko Barzaga for 60 days.
There are undeniably a lot of young congressmen in the House of Representatives now. One of them is Cavite 4th District Representative Kiko Barzaga or also popularly called as “Cong. Meow Meow”. Amid the supposed multi-billion flood control corruption in the country, he is vocal about his criticisms of the Marcos Jr. administration.
Cong. Kiko Barzaga even blamed Pres. Bongbong Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez over the deaths in Cebu. According to him, there were allegedly no fatalities due to the Typhoon Tino in the province if there was no corruption.
Barzaga called for the resignation of Marcos Jr. He even led a rally outside Forbes Park in Taguig as the protesters called for the President to step down from his position amid the supposed multi-billion flood control corruption.
Amid his being a vocal critic of the Marcos Jr. administration, Harry Roque, the former spokesman of ex-Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, expressed his salute to Cong. Kiko Barzaga for speaking against the Marcos Jr. admin. While he speaks against the President, the young Congressman was linked to Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte denied controlling Cong. Kiko Barzaga. According to her, she only met him once during the UniTeam rally. She also claimed that only Barzaga supported her tandem with Pres. Bongbong Marcos then as his parents were only for her.
“Di ko pakawala si Kiko. Isa syang tao na mahirap kontrolin kahit sinuman. I do not control Kiko Barzaga. He is his own person, he has his own principles and own free will,” the Vice President claimed.
Recently, the House of Representatives suspended Cong. Kiko Barzaga due to alleged ‘offensive’ social media posts. With a 249-5-11 voting result, Barzaga is suspended for 60 days without pay. Vice Pres. Sara Duterte reacted to his suspension.
According to Vice Pres. Duterte, the suspension of Barzaga is allegedly “part of a series of efforts to silence voices that speak uncomfortable truths”. The Vice President stressed that his suspension is supposedly not the first time that critics of the government were punished.
“This is not the first time that critics of the government have been met with punitive action,” she expressed.
Based on a report on GMA News, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte highlighted the freedom of speech. According to her, in a democratic country, “dissent should not be treated as a threat”.
“Karapatan ito ng bawat Pilipino, lalo na ng mga lingkod-bayan na may tungkuling magsiwalat ng katotohanan. Kaya kung ang isang halal ng bayan tulad ni Cong. Barzaga ay maaaring patahimikin, paano pa ang mga ordinaryong Pilipinong wala namang kapangyarihan o posisyon?” the Vice President added.
Recently, amid his 60-day suspension, Cong. Kiko Barzaga deleted his controversial post.