Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday, Aug. 17 said that Filipinos must not get lost in the “political harassment” and “political attacks” currently being leveled at the Duterte family and advised them to focus on the bigger problems the nation faces.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte enjoys a rare complete family dinner with his ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman and their three children: Vice President Sara Duterte, Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte, and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Duterte family)
In a media interview in Davao City, the official expressed hope that Filipinos won’t forget the bigger issue of poverty and hunger.
“Sana ay hindi makalimutan ng taong bayan na ang tunay na problema natin, kahirapan at yung problema ng mga tao sa mahal na pagkain. Iyon talaga iyong basic na problema at basic need ng bayan ngayon (The people hopefully don’t forget that the real problem is poverty and food prices. That’s the basic problem and basic need of our country),” she said.
“Sana ay hindi sila magpadala sa ingay kundi tutukan nating lahat kung ano iyong totoong problema ng ating bayan (May they not get lost in the political noise and let’s focus what's the real problem in our country),” she added.
The Vice President called the recent attacks against the Dutertes as “political harassment.”
Since leaving President Marcos’ Cabinet last month as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), this is the second time the official—one-half of Marcos’ Uniteam tandem in the 2022 elections—described what her family has been facing as “political harassment.”
“Lahat ito ay political harassment, political attacks. Nakikita nyo naman lumabas siya nung umalis ako sa DepEd (These are all political harassment, political attacks. You can see that all of these appeared after I left DepEd),” she said.
In a House quad-committee panel on Friday, Aug. 16, former Customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban implicated Duterte’s husband, Manases Carpio, her brother and Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang to the smuggling of P11 billion worth of shabu at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) in 2018.
Reports are also abound that an impeachment case will be filed against Duterte in the lower chamber.
The Vice President claimed these came shortly after she released a statement saying what needs to be done for the country.
Duterte also shrugged off the impeachment rumors, chalking it up to mere politics.
“That’s expected. Lagi naman pinag-uusapan among members of the Houses of Representatives ang impeachment at naririnig namin lagi iyon base sa mga sinasabi ng mga kaibigan doon sa loob (Impeachment is always discussed among members of the House of Representatives and we hear it based from what our friends from the inside are saying),” she said.
“Expected na natin ‘yan dahil mainit nga ang pulitika ngayon dito sa ating bayan (We expect that because politics is hot now in our country),” she added.
Duterte shared that during a family day last Thursday to celebrate her mother’s birthday, politics was not a part of the discussions.