VP Sara dared: Report results of foreign trips

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday dared impeached Vice President Sara Duterte to report the results of her official foreign trips to the nation in the latest verbal tussle between the Marcos administration and its former close ally-turned-arch critic.

Last week, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro asked whether Sara’s overseas trips were personal or for the country, prompting the Vice President to call her critics “stupid.”

Sara – who went to the Netherlands for the birthday celebration of her father former president Rodrigo Duterte and to Malaysia and Australia to attend various events with Filipino supporters – claimed that she never used state funds for her personal trips.

The elder Duterte is detained in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity.

Castro said Sara has not provided information about her activities during her official trips.

“She said she is working as the vice president and went out of the country. She now has to report to the nation what she did in Australia, the results of the performance of her official functions in Australia. She needs to report to the people who were with her and whether she shouldered the costs of her companions,” the Palace press officer said.

“If that is a private or personal trip, she does not need to report what she did. So her trips to other countries should have results that are good for the country. Again, the nation or the self?”

Castro claimed that the Vice President was “emotional” when she made the remark and that “when emotions are high, intelligence is low.”

Meanwhile, the Vice President on Wednesday said that the administration wants “to eliminate” her amid the filing of the impeachment case, claiming that she is the frontrunner in the presidential race in 2028.

Beating her perceived rivals this early in the May 2028 presidential elections does not give Duterte the license to violate the 1987 Constitution by ignoring calls for accountability and transparency in government, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said yesterday.

In a related development, Manila Rep. Joel Chua, one of 11 House prosecutors in the impeachment case, refuted Senate President Francis Escudero, who said they are “stubborn” for refusing to honor the Senate impeachment court’s orders.

“We followed whatever it is that they want through their orders. In fact, we just submitted our certification and have attached our House resolution on the matter,” he said. — Bella Cariaso, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano