President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to lawmakers to stop any political “play” that would impede the process of approval of the national budget as it include funds for the COVID-19 response.
“Huwag naman sana ninyong sobrahan ang laro sa Congress na iyong budget mismo, ang nailagay sa alanganin. I am just appealing to you,” Duterte said in a taped public address.
[Don’t be excessive in your play there in Congress that the budget is put in jeopardy.]
“Either you resolve the issue sa impasse n’yo d’yan and pass the budget legally, constitutionally. ‘Pag hindi n’yo ginawa, ako ang gagawa para sa inyo.”
[If you do not do that, I will do that for you.]
Lawmakers are worrying over possible delayed approval of the 2021 budget after House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano abruptly suspended session on Tuesday.
The President also emphasized how the leadership row in the House of Representatives would fire back at the entire administration.
“Ang maalała lang nila, panahon ni Duterte, napakabaho. They do not mention iyong si Alan, si Congress o si Lord—wala—ang sabihin administrasyon ni Duterte,” he said.
[They will just remember that Duterte’s time reeked. They do not mention Alan, the Congress or Lord—nothing—they will just say the Duterte administration.]
He then urged lawmakers not to drag him into a tug-of-war for the House helm, saying they should place public service above all.
“Huwag n’yo naman ako idamay. Ako gusto ko, kayo hindi. Diyan tayo magkaroon ng problema. Ang gobyerno natin maraming problema. ‘Yang COVID na ‘yan hindi ‘yan umaalis sa Pilipinas matagal na, lumilipad lang ang mikrobyo na yan dito sa atin,” Duterte said.
[Don’t drag me into this. I want this to happen, you don’t. That’s where we’ll have a problem. Our government has so many problems. COVID-19 won’t ever leave the Philippines, it just flies around.]
“People are dying, people are sick, people need medicines, at marami pang iba… Pero ang pakiusap ko ayusin ninyo at isipin ninyo ang Pilipino na nasa ospital ngayon na kailangan ng medisina, at mga Pilipinong mamamatay ngayon, ganitong oras, na walang gamot, wala lahat kulang,” the President said.
[My appeal to you is to fix this, think of Filipinos in hospitals now in need of medicine, Filipinos dying right at this moment because they have no medicine, everything is lacking.]
