MANILA, Philippines — Amid the criticisms and controversies hounding her in connection with her budget spending, Vice President Sara Duterte said she is all good and can answer for herself without any advice from her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in the Office of the Vice President (OVP) central office in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, the younger Duterte said she does not seek advice from her father, especially when it comes to dealing with her detractors as the former president has a “volcanic” temperament.
“From PRD, really? You think he would give advice? He will likely just say, ‘punch him,’ ‘set him on fire.’ PRD is a jarhead, we all know that. So if you are going to ask for advice from PRD, expect some angry scolding and volcanic eruption,” Sara said in Filipino, referring to her father as PRD or president Rodrigo Duterte.
“So, really, there’s none. He has no advice when it comes to defending the Office of the Vice President,” she added.
Besides, she said she can answer all the allegations against her by herself.
“I have done nothing wrong. But if they (her critics) think otherwise, then bring the matter to impeachment or to the court, I will answer it. I am very casual because I know that I can answer anything that they will say against me,” Sara said.
“There are times that I opt not to answer, so it appears that I cannot answer them. But in truth I just no longer wanted to talk, because it gets tiring. Their anger is so tiring, actually... But when it comes to a fight, you can count on me to fight,” she added.
Duterte has been receiving flak for opting not to attend the House of Representatives’ deliberations on the OVP proposed budget for 2025.
Duterte is also in hot water over the OVP’s spending of millions of pesos in confidential funds. The Commission on Audit (COA) had earlier confirmed that P125 million in confidential funds was spent by the OVP in just 11 days in 2022, despite lack of official budget appropriation for it by Congress in the General Appropriations Act for that year.
Of that amount, P73 million was earlier disallowed by COA through issuance of a Notice of Disallowance, as the fund disbursement was found to be “either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or unconscionable.”