Here’s the response of the Palace to the statement of VP Sara Duterte.
Palace previously questioned the personal trips of VP Sara Duterte, and here’s their response when the vice president made this remark.
From January to June of this year, Vice President Sara Duterte has already made at least five trips abroad – some official, some personal. She went to the Netherlands in March, returned to The Hague in late May, and flew to Qatar, Malaysia, and Australia.
In these trips, particularly in personal ones, VP Sara said that she is not using the taxpayers’ money. According to her, she shoulders her airfare and hotel accommodations when the trip is personal. She explained, “Walang ginamit na pera ng gobyerno sa lakad na ito pero nagtratrabaho pa rin ako. Sa official, ginamit namin ang pera ng gobyerno para sa lakad na yun.”
Previously, the Palace questioned whether her trip to Australia was personal or for the country. Recently, shortly after returning, she faced the press and took a swipe at the Palace for questioning her travels abroad.
“Hindi ko alam kung sinasadya nilang wag intindihin o bobo lang yung nasa administrasyon. I like to believe the latter,” Duterte said.
The Palace, through Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro, clapped back at this. The word war continued, and she criticized the way the second-in-command answered, which was emotional. She added during the press briefing that ‘when emotions are high, intelligence is low,’ and quipped that she should not speak out of anger, as it was clearly reported that what she had was a personal trip.
“Pero, hindi po niya kasi ibinunyag na gagawa siya di umano ng official functions. Magiging magkaiba po iyon kung ang sinabi niya kahit po isa sa inyo, sa media na personal trip, pero mayroon po pala siyang gagawing official functions,” the Palace official stated and added that while her emotions were high during an interview, she mentioned that Australia was not just a personal trip.
Her travel request was granted, but at the same time, she urged the vice president to be honest regarding the nature of her trip, as the Palace won’t oppose it even if it’s personal. The Palace official also encouraged the vice president to reveal what happened during her trip to Australia.
“So, ang tanong natin, kung hindi ito personal trip, sana ay naging tapat siya sa pagsasabi kung ano ba ang dahilan ng kanyang pagpunta sa Australia at hindi naman ito tutulan ng administrasyon. At ginamit ng OVP Facebook, ito ay parte ng gobyerno, pero pang-personal trip. So, magkakaroon po talagang confusion, conflict of interest,” she said.
The Palace just would like some clarification from her on what occurred in Australia, the output of the official function, and who she was with and who shouldered the people she took with her on that trip.
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