Pulong Duterte: Romualdez's resignation as Speaker is a corruption cover-up

Davao City Representative Paolo Duterte on Wednesday said the looming leadership change at the House of Representatives is just a cover up of the old rotten system. 

He was referring to the leadership change set Wednesday afternoon wherein Speaker Martin Romualdez is expected to resign to give way to Isabela Rep. Faustino "Bojie" Dy III’s election as the next Speaker.

“Ngayon, pinalitan si Martin Romualdez, tapos si Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy daw ang ipapalit. Sino ang pumili? Walang iba kundi si Sandro Marcos — partymate sa Partido Federal, anak mismo ng Pangulo. Ano ‘to? Isa na namang cover-up move!” Duterte said.

(Romualdez will be replaced by Dy. Who chose the replacement? Its Congressman Sandro Marcos of the President’s political party. This is just another cover up.)

“Palit lang ng mukha pero parehong bulok pa rin ang sistema. Mr. President, ano ba ‘to? Kung seryoso ka talaga laban sa korapsyon, bakit hindi ka mag-file agad ng kaso laban sa mga tiwaling mambabatas? Hindi matatapos ang corruption sa iyak iyak at bolahan lang… Patunayan naman natin hindi lang ito puro salita,” added Duterte, son of former President Rodrigo Duterte who has been detained in The Netherlands over alleged crimes against humanity due to drug war killings.

(We change faces but the system remains rotten. If the President is serious in fighting corruption, why not file charges against corrupt lawmakers? Corruption won’t end with tears and sweet talk. Let us do the work rather than pepper us with words.)

Duterte then said it would be unbelievable to assume that the President is unaware of corruption since he is already four years in office.

“Nandiyan mismo ang anak mo bilang Majority Leader! Hindi ba siya nagsumbong sa’yo? Huwag ninyo naman ipalabas na lahat ng kalokohan, [na] wala kang narinig at wala kang nakita,” he said.

(His son is the Majority Leader. Did he not tell you anything about corruption in Congress? It will be very hard to believe you did not see anything.)

“Tama na ang panloloko. Tigilan na ang palabas. Harap-harapan n’yong labanan ang korapsyon — walang sacred cows, walang cover-up, walay atik-atik. Kung hindi ninyo kayang linisin ang sarili ninyo, mas mabuti pa umuwi na lang tayong lahat,” he added.

(Stop the deceit and show. Deal with corruption with no sacred cows, no fuzz. If you cannot cleanse yourself, let us just go home.)

GMA News Online has reached out to the camp of Rep. Marcos for comment and will publish it as soon as it becomes available.—AOL, GMA Integrated News