Palace to Duterte: Serving the nation or your father?

Metro Manila, Philippines - Malacañang is calling on Vice President Sara Duterte to clarify the nature of her recent foreign travels, and that if she insisted these are official functions she should disclose their purpose and outcome.

In an interview with Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro on The Newsmaker on Monday, June 30, she said Duterte should not blur the lines between a personal vacation and public duties.

“Okay lang ituloy niya ‘yung personal trips niya, ala bakasyon. Kasi sinasabi niya, personal trip. Tapos sinasabi niya, nagtatrabaho siya,” Castro said.

[Translation: It’s fine if she continues her personal trips, like a vacation. She says it’s a personal trip, but then she also says she’s working.]

Castro said if the vice president claims to be working, then the public has the right to know what kind of work she is doing and whom it is for.

“Kung nagtatrabaho ka, una, nagtatrabaho ka saan? Nagtatrabaho ka ba for the people, for the country, o nagtatrabaho ka for the personal interest of your father?” she asked.

[Translation: If you’re working, where are you working? Are you working for the people, for the country, or for your father’s personal interest]

Duterte, who flew to Australia and met with Filipino communities there, maintained that she was not on vacation and that no public funds were used. But Castro countered that if the vice president used her official position while abroad, she must show proof of work done in official capacity.

“Kung may result man ‘yung pinagtrabahohan mo, kung nagtrabaho man, for the country. Dapat hindi pang-personal ‘yung trabaho,” she added.

[Translation: If there was any result from what you worked on — if you indeed worked — it should be for the country, not for personal interests.]

Castro noted that simply saying no public funds were spent is not enough justification for conducting official business while on personal time.

“Kung wala naman siya ma-re-report sa bayan, mahirap pa siya i-prove na nagtrabaho siya,” Castro said.

[Translation:If she has nothing to report to the people, it’s hard to prove that she was actually working.]

Duterte earlier brushed off the Palace remarks and said she had no obligation to report on personal trips, especially if no government money was spent. In a media interview in Davao City, she lashed out at critics, calling the Palace “bobo” or stupid for questioning her actions.

She also told Filipinos in Melbourne to urge the Australian government to look into what she called the “injustice” committed against her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, over the International Criminal Court investigation on his drug war.