VP Sara, ex-Pres. Duterte denounce Cha-cha in Davao prayer rally

Merely hours after attending the Bagong Pilipinas kick-off Rally at the Quirino Grandstand, Vice President Sara Duterte flew to Davao City to be at the Hakbang ng Maisug Prayer Rally on Sunday where she and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte denounced ongoing efforts of a Charter change via a people's initiative.

At the prayer rally attended by around 16,600 people, the vice president gave a speech thanking the people for their presence at the event. 

“Ang utang na loob namin sa inyo mga kababayan namin sa pagkakataon na ibinibigay ninyo sa amin na makapaglingkod sa aming pamahalaan at sa anim na taon na suporta ninyo sa administrasyon ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte,” she told the assembly.

(We owe a debt of gratitude to our countrymen for the opportunity you have given us to serve you in government and the six years you supported the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.)

The vice president was with her father, the former president and her brothers Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. 

Senator Imee Marcos, the elder sister of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and an ally of the Dutertes, was also in attendance.

During his speech, Mayor Baste Duterte delivered a somewhat ominous message to President Marcos.

“Just a simple message sa ating Pangulo: From now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs. Think of Benito Mussolini and his wife. And think of what happened to you in 1986 and maybe you'll reconsider the direction that you are taking.”

The mayor was referring to historical figures who met tragic fates: the last Russian emperor, Czar Nicholas II of the House of Romanov and his family were executed by their communist captors 1918.

Mussolini or Il Duce (Leader), was an Italian dictator and fascist who was an ally of Adolf Hitler in World War II. After he was sacked by the King of Italy as the country’s leader, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, tried to escape to neutral Switzerland. Instead they were captured by partisans who executed them for war crimes, their bodies were later hung upside down from a gas station and desecrated by an angry mob.

In 1986, the Marcos family was forced to flee in exile after the EDSA People Power Revolution.

In an earlier speech, Mayor Baste Duterte called for the resignation of President Marcos.

“Mr. President, if you do not have love or have no aspirations for your country, resign,” Duterte said.

“You are lazy and you lack compassion… All of these things that he is causing in oppressing the people. So there, he is putting politics first, their self-preservation of their political lives. They are not doing their jobs first,” he added. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/RF, GMA Integrated News