Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday denied ‘control’ over Cavite 4th District Rep. Francisco Barzaga who launched a call for President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr.’s resignation.
‘I do not control Congressman Kiko Barzaga, he is his own person, he has his own principles and he has his own free will,’ Duterte said in an interview in Zamboanga City.
Barzaga, last Sunday briefly joined a rally outside Forbes Park Village in Makati City where demonstrators called for the resignation of Marcos amid allegations of corruption in his administration.
Also in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon, Barzaga urged people to join the rally, saying they would ‘enter the homes of (former Ako Bicol Rep.) Zaldy Co and (former Speaker and Leyte Rep.) Martin Romualdez’ as part of the protest action.
Co and Romualdez had been linked to anomalous government flood control projects. Both vehemently denied the accusation.
‘There is nothing wrong at all with what he is doing because as I said, we are all covered with freedom of speech and expression,’ she said of Barzaga.
The vice president also said that she last met Barzaga in Dasmariñas during the campaign period.
Duterte also said she only knew Barzaga as he was a supporter of ‘Uniteam’, the branding of Marcos-Duterte tandem in 2022.
Marcos and Duterte have been embroiled in a bitter feud marked by the vice president’s resignation in the present administration’s Cabinet as education secretary in June last year.
The feud became more intense after the Marcos administration allowed the International Criminal Court to arrest former President Rodrigo Duterte, who faces crimes against humanity charges due to his drug war which killed thousands, according to official government data. /gsg