VP Sara Duterte: We are not the problem

Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, on Sunday take their turns addressing their supporters gathered at Southorn Stadium in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district. (SCREENGRAB FROM SMNI CHANNEL VIDEO)

MANILA, Philippines —  “Let us not forget that the country’s problem is not the Dutertes.”

Vice President Sara Duterte said that in Filipino in The Hague, Netherlands, where she had flown for her father and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s scheduled appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The elder Duterte will face a pre-trial hearing over alleged crimes against humanity charges related to his war on drugs.

In a video sent by the Office of the Vice President to reporters on Friday, Duterte also seemed to take a jab at the Marcos administration.

“The real problem of the country is that all of you are here working in a foreign country because there are no opportunities in our own land,” the vice president said in Filipino.

“Poverty continues, hunger persists, and progress remains out of reach. You see the Netherlands, right? We want to be like the Netherlands. But why is it not happening? That’s what we have to ask the government, she added.

She thanked all the supporters of her father.

“We see the peace rallies in the Philippines and in various parts of the world. We are grateful that there are those who pray. Many are praying,” she said, speaking with a group of Filipinos who can be heard reacting to her statement.

The former president was arrested in Manila on Tuesday under an ICC warrant for alleged crimes against humanity during his administration’s war on drugs.

He was flown to The Hague on the same day.

Vice President Duterte followed him and arrived in the Netherlands on Friday. She was seen with former presidential spokesperson lawyer Harry Roque, a listed ICC counsel, and Sen Robinhood Padilla.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Duterte ran under the “UniTeam” banner in the 2022 national elections, but their political alliance has since been severed with her resignation from her post as education secretary last year.

The elder Duterte and Marcos also have a long-standing rift that began before the latter became president in 2022.

The former president had repeatedly accused Marcos of using illegal drugs, which Marcos has also repeatedly denied.