VP Sara Duterte —Richard A. Reyes
MANILA, Philippines — Four days after she poured out her anger at President Marcos on national television, Vice President Sara Duterte again faced the media but continued to steer clear from allegations of budget misuse.
On the sidelines of a major business conference where she was a guest, Duterte admitted that she resorted to “diversionary tactics” to get back at members of the House of Representatives who, she said, started the political attacks on her.
“Well, it’s a tie, because what they’re doing is also [a] diversionary tactic],” Duterte told reporters on the sidelines of the 50th Business Conference and Expo of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in Pasay City on Tuesday.
READ: VP Sara’s dangerous rhetoric
“You’re diverting [the issue]? I’ll do it as well then because that’s what you’re doing, right? … Whatever it is that you’re doing, you’ll just end up losing to me,” she said.
Duterte made the remark when asked about the call of lawmakers to set the record straight about the supposed irregular transactions in the 2022 and 2023 budgets, including the confidential and intelligence funds, of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she concurrently headed until her resignation in July this year.
It was the first public appearance of Duterte since she held a two-hour freewheeling session with the media on Oct. 18 which was initially thought to be her chance to finally face the accusations of misappropriated funds raised in the hearings of the House committee on good government. Duterte and 19 OVP officials had rejected the request for them to appear in the inquiry, telling House legislators that their presence would be “unnecessary.”
But instead of clearing her name on issues hurled at her, she made veiled threats to the Marcos family—that she would exhume the body of the President’s father and namesake, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and throw it into the West Philippine Sea, and had thought of cutting off Marcos’ head out of exasperation.
Mental health
Following Duterte’s public meltdown, several lawmakers and officials questioned the state of her mental health, even suggesting that she seek professional help.
For one, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said his agency was studying the “legal consequences” of Duterte’s “disturbing” remarks during her press conference last week.
But Duterte scoffed at Remulla, saying in Filipino, “We should pray for the Philippines because we have a secretary of justice who doesn’t know the law.”
“There is a big difference between talking about the desecration of a body and actually desecrating a body,” stressed Duterte, a lawyer. “It’s not illegal; it’s taboo.”
She added that Remulla, a lawyer, should have easily understood the difference, but “apparently … there are others who are slow to pick up.”
The Vice President also turned the tables on House lawmakers who suggested that she take a psychological assessment. She demanded that they, too, take a drug test should they run for reelection next year.
“I’ll do two tests (neuropsychiatric and drug tests) because they’re saying I’m unstable,” Duterte said.
“But all the ‘Young Guns’ who are running as candidates should take a drug test … I demand that,” she said, referring to a bloc in the lower chamber composed of young legislators.
Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, son of President Marcos and a member of the “Young Guns,” on Tuesday insinuated that Duterte has a mental health issue that needs to be addressed after she went “ballistic” during her press conference.
Duterte, however, refused to respond to the young Marcos’ statement, as it was “natural” for children to defend their parents.
She said Marcos’ sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, had “turned cold” on her hours after her extended rant.
While the Vice President said she learned only through a “common friend” that the senator was “annoyed” at her, she still described her as “a friend.”
Facing business sector
President Marcos and Duterte have been invited to address the two-day PCCI event but they will not appear together on the same stage during the conference. Duterte was the keynote speaker during the event’s opening on Tuesday, while the President is scheduled to address conference participants today.
In her speech on Tuesday, Duterte stressed the importance of “embracing” innovation and technology, especially artificial intelligence, for businesses in the country to prosper.
“Embracing new innovation is inevitable or we will be left behind in the grind as we are compared to our neighbors and compared to the rest of the world where competition between and among humans becomes increasingly cutthroat,” she noted.
Recognizing the birthing pains of new technologies into businesses, Duterte called on both the government and the private sector to collaborate in “fostering an environment that encourages risk-taking and experimentation.”
“With government and private sector support, imagine what our Filipino youth can do to create solutions for various challenges from disaster relief to agricultural optimization. Filipinos can create products that disrupt the market by thinking outside the box and embracing new innovative technologies,” she said.