AGHAM – Advocates of Science and Technology for the People supports the call of various sectors to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for her lack of transparency and evasion of accountability regarding the misuse of public funds during her time as Vice President and former Secretary of Education.
Recently, during congressional hearings on the national budget for 2025, Duterte repeatedly avoided answering questions regarding how the funds allocated to her two offices were spent. It can be recalled that last year, Duterte was also involved in controversy over the suspicious use of confidential and intelligence funds, reportedly spending 125 million pesos in just 11 days. The recent budget hearings also revealed issues such as expired milk and Nutri buns being distributed to schools and the nondelivery of laptops for public schools.
Despite these controversies, Sara Duterte has the audacity to ask for a higher budget for her office as Vice President. As nationalist scientists, we find it insulting that the nation’s budget, which comes from the Filipino people, is being used for the corruption of traditional politicians like Sara Duterte. Meanwhile, the budget for research and development remains at only 0.16% of the country’s GDP, far below the UNESCO-recommended allocation of 1%. Instead of supporting the country’s science and technology, adequately funding research initiatives, and providing fair and timely compensation to scientists and researchers, public funds are being used to maintain the wealth of bureaucrat capitalists like Duterte, who treat the government as a business to further fatten their own pockets.
Thus, we reiterate our support for the call to impeach Sara Duterte.
Sara Duterte, tanggalin sa pwesto! Impeach Sara Duterte!
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