Rights group hits back at Sara’s remarks

MANILA, Philippines — Rights group Karapatan hit back at Vice President Sara Duterte’s remarks that she is not the biggest problem of the country, noting that she and her kind are the reason why Filipinos are suffering.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said President Marcos and Duterte are both from political clans that perpetuated themselves for their own benefit and interest, at the expense of ordinary Filipinos.

“The Marcoses and Dutertes secured the top posts in the country only to continue the same economic and political policies that have trampled on the people’s democratic rights and driven the majority of Filipinos to poverty and despair,” Palabay said in a statement.

She said Duterte should stop playing the victim, as she should be held accountable for the millions of confidential and intelligence funds she wasted under her office and when she was education secretary.

Palabay explained further that neither Duterte nor Marcos is better than the other, as both of them have maintained a rotten system that sold the country to foreigners and used the worst of rights violations to kill, arrest and threaten dissenters.

She called on the people to join protests and take action to make the Marcos and Duterte administrations accountable for their crimes against the Filipino people.

“Let us not hold back in holding both the Dutertes and the Marcoses accountable for all the killings they are responsible for and the plunder of the nation’s coffers under their rule,” Palabay said.