Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday belied claims that House Speaker Martin Romualdez has affected her decision to run in the 2022 national and local polls.
This was Duterte's response to Cavite 4th District Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. who claimed that Romualdez "worked hard" on her vice presidential bid "because he genuinely believed that she would make a difference."
"To say that the 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," she lamented in a statement.
Duterte said it was Senator Imee Marcos who persuaded her to run for the second highest government position.
"[I]t was a decision sealed only after President [Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos agreed to the conditions I set before running for VP. There was no Speaker Romualdez in the picture," she added.
The Vice President said Barzaga Jr. was "badly informed or made to believe a lie."
Duterte reiterated that the Marcos administration "is stable and strong."
"It has my all-out support and the support of the majority of the Filipino people," she added.
