Members of the Philippine Congress hail Agot Isidro courage in calling out President Rodrigo Duterte on foreign policy.
This is following the incident where Agot’s Facebook post became a trending topic on social media and elicited supporters as well as bashers from Duterte’s supporters.
On Tuesday, Isidro found allies among congressmen at the House of Representatives, who commend her courage for calling out Duterte on his statements against the United States and the European Union where he challenged those countries to pull out aid.
In a news conference of the opposition bloc on Tuesday, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said, “Let us encourage more people to be like Agot. The freedom of expression should not be cowed by fear of repudiation or vindictiveness or negative outbursts from supporters of the President.”
“We should encourage more people to speak out … regarding the President’s flawed priorities and erratic rhetoric,” he said.
The veteran lawmaker was asked how he viewed Isidro’s controversial remark on the President calling him “a psychopath” and he said, “that was how Agot measured the President.”
“The government should be able to respect the inalienable right to criticize the very people they installed into power.”
Akbayan partylist Representative Tom Villarin also hailed on the actress and said the country “should have more Agot Isidros in its midst.”
“The climate of being numbed should stop, what Agot did was a call out to the Filipinos,” he said.
“If the emperor has no clothes, then let’s tell him instead of just laughing and saying everything is okay,” Villarin added.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, on the other hand, said the public should respect Agot’s right to free expression.
“Personally, I may not got to such lengths in branding the President a psychopath, but I agree with her premise,” he said.
“Let’s find out where those utterances were coming from, it was a reaction to his statements on foreign policy, on that note, I agree,” Baguilat added.
On Tuesday, Duterte said he respects Agot’s remarks because this is her right to freedom of expression.