Sara: Marcos Jr., who reeked of liquor, is the failure

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has insisted that she was not a “complete failure” during her stint as education secretary.

Duterte also hit back at President Marcos, claiming that she resigned from the post as he “smelled like liquor at 10:30 in the morning.”

Graft and corruption are among the charges filed against the Vice President in her impeachment case, stemming from alleged misuse of education funds for confidential and intelligence activities that are difficult to audit.

“He smelled like liquor… That’s where I confirmed my decision to resign so I am not a failure. Maybe, the failure is the one who smelled like liquor as early as 10:30 a.m.,” Duterte said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands.

“If I had to guess what kind of liquor (he drank), whiskey. But I did not see him drinking whiskey. I saw him drinking champagne. But he smelled like liquor at 10:30 in the morning,” she added.

Defending her remark that Philippine education remains stuck in “paper and pencil,” Duterte maintained that “we are truly behind in our education system compared to more developed countries around the world.”

Failure

Malacañang yesterday stood by its remark that Duterte was a “complete failure” as education secretary and chided her for supposedly resorting to propaganda to bring down Marcos and pursue her goal to become president.

Duterte had admitted that she could not review the Matatag basic education curriculum since she did not know anything about it, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro recalled.

“Records will speak for themselves. She admitted in one of her speaking engagements that she had no expertise in formulating the Matatag curriculum since she is not from the education sector,” Castro said, referring to Duterte’s speech at the launching of the curriculum on Aug. 10, 2023.

Castro said Duterte is a source of “fake news” spreading stories such as the altered Beverly Hills police report linking First Lady Liza Marcos to the death of business executive Paolo Tantoco last March.

“All of her stories are meant to malign the President because she wants him to step down from the post so she can become president. A selfish goal,” Castro said.

Sara told: Don’t lie

Duterte should stop covering herself up by lying about the national budget, Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano said yesterday.

“The Vice President has low regard in Congress when she claimed that only two or some people decide the national budget. The whole Congress is the one approving the budget,” Valeriano, chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, said.

“It seems that the Vice President is spreading lies again. Lies to deflect her own incompetence,” he added.

Duterte resigned as education secretary in July 2024, amid mounting controversies over her leadership and questions about her use of confidential funds.

During her two-year stint as DepEd chief, Duterte drew mounting criticism for the agency’s dismal performance marked by low budget utilization, poor learning outcomes and failure to address the education crisis.