Vice President Sara Duterte denied the claims made by House Speaker Martin Romualdez who said that he was one of the people who convinced the former Davao City Mayor to run for a higher office.
In her statement, Duterte said that it was Sen. Imee Marcos who convinced her to run for VP and not Romualdez.
She also called the claim of Romualdez as an ‘insult’ to the people and groups who made an effort to push her to enter national politics.
“Speaker Martin Romualdez had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to run for Vice President.” said Duterte. “To say that he “tremendously helped in pushing for” my Vice Presidential bid is acutely inaccurate — an insult to thousands of groups and individuals who incessantly implored me to reconsider an earlier decision not to join national politics.”
“And it was Senator Imee Marcos who eventually persuaded me to run as Vice President — and it was a decision sealed only after President Bongbong Marcos agreed to the conditions I set before running for VP.
“There was no Speaker Romualdez in the picture.”
It can be recalled that Duterte and Romualdez’ feud started when the Vice President’s closest ally, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been demoted to Deputy Speaker from being a Senior Deputy Speaker.
She also resigned from Arroyo’s party, Lakas-CMD as part of her protest for the people who favored the decision to demote the former president.
As of writing, Romualdez has yet to respond to the statement made by Duterte.