Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte wrote an open letter to Ligayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who made criticisms against President Rodrigo Duterte because of his policies.
It can be recalled Villegas blamed Duterte for defacing the memory of the EDSA Revolution and used the letter he received from the late Cardinal Jaime Sin to justify his criticisms against the former Mayor.
However, Duterte denied that her father was the reason why EDSA was getting a bad impression among the public.
She questioned why EDSA was becoming an event about a certain group of people, despite the fact that it was a joint effort of the public who wanted their democracy restored.
“Fast forward to 2017, I would now say that the celebration of the 1986 EDSA revolution is important but only to commemorate what we did for our country on a certain period in our history.
“I find it hard to understand why this bloodless revolution has become the standard definition of freedom for our country, and this standard is forced down our throats by a certain group of individuals who think they are better than everyone else. These are the elite and their friends, including Archbishop Villegas.
“Oh, dear Archbishop. How dare you say that my father has singlehandedly defaced the memory of the EDSA revolution.
Duterte said that the nation was already facing problems even after EDSA.
She even believed that Villegas was only disappointed because the candidate they supported didn’t win against PRRD.
“He won the Presidency precisely because you ignored what was wrong with this world. All you desired was to put into power a leader who walks and talks like you – someone who is definitely not Rodrigo Duterte.
“Your group is sadly a bunch of delusional hypocrites. While all of you were up there riding high on your horses, you failed to notice that many of us down here empathize with what Rodrigo Duterte is saying because it is the hard truth. It is truly without the air of hypocrisy that we smell from your kind.”
She even told Villegas that he was worse than a hundred President Dutertes.
“You preach about freedom as if you invented it, as if it is your gift to us. Let me tell you what freedom is. It is to live a life that is free from your selective moral standard. This is what the meaning of EDSA is,” she said.
This article was originally published in 2017.