VP Sara Duterte: I did not intend to issue statement on EDSA anniversary

Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said she deleted her message for the 38th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution from her social media accounts because she did not intend to issue one.

"I did not intend to issue a statement this year as I did not the previous year. Because of this, I removed the EDSA anniversary post from my social media page," Duterte said in a statement issued three days after her statement was uploaded.

The vice president also stressed that her 2017 position on the EDSA revolution anniversary remains.

"What I said in 2017 regarding the February 25 EDSA anniversary has never changed. My position remains the same today," she said.

While she did not attach her 2017 position in her latest statement, it can be recalled that the then-Davao City mayor earlier stated that, "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."

The 2017 statement was in response to then-Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas following the latter's rant against the administration of her father, then-President Rodrigo Duterte in a letter to the late Jaime Cardinal Sin.  

In a now deleted post, Sara urged Filipinos to continue upholding the EDSA spiritand to stand up for what is right.

"On this day, we commemorate the brave souls who stood united on the streets of Edsa, fighting for democracy and freedom," Sara said in the message that has since been taken down.

"As we celebrate this momentous occasion, let us remember the lessons of EDSA—the power of unity, the strength of the Filipino spirit, and the importance of standing up for what is right," she added. — BM, GMA Integrated News