Palace claps back at Sara Duterte over recent tirades

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro. — Photo from Presidential Communications Office

[Updated June 23, 2025, 5:53 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday clapped back at Vice President Sara Duterte’s recent tirades against the Marcos administration by reminding her of the trillions of pesos in debt incurred during the administration of her father, arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte.

At a briefing, Press Officer Claire Castro was asked to respond to Duterte’s remarks questioning where the country’s ballooning national debt has gone.

READ: Carpio: Sara Duterte risks waiving rights without response to court

The Vice President, speaking at a gathering of Filipinos in Australia, had wondered where and how the government spent the P16-trillion national debt.

In response, Castro said: “May kasabihan nga tayo, ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinanggalingan, hindi talaga malalaman ang katotohanan (We have a saying: Those who do not know how to look back to the source will never know the truth).”

She clarified that the P16 trillion Duterte referred to is the total debt of the Philippine government — much of which had accumulated even before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office.

“Let’s also remember that the administration of former President Duterte recorded the highest debt, reaching P12.79 trillion as of June 2022. Of that amount, P6.84 trillion was incurred solely under the Duterte administration — reflecting a 115.1 percent increase in the country’s debt,” Castro said.

She further pressed Duterte, asking whether she fails to recognize the Marcos administration’s projects for the people — such as improved Philippine Health Insurance Corporation benefit packages, the P20-per-kilo rice program, fuel subsidies, and others.

“In her speech in Australia, she mentioned that there were reports about positive developments in the economy. But she said that those were only ‘on paper.’ That means she actually admitted that there is documentation — proof, receipts — showing that the economy is doing well and improving. This isn’t gossip or baseless criticism, because she herself acknowledged that the proof exists,” Castro also said.

“It’s hard to teach someone who knows nothing and has no intention of learning. It’s just as hard to open the eyes of someone who is blind — or chooses to stay blind,” she added.

2022 election regrets

In the same event, Duterte once again expressed regret about having teamed up with Marcos during the 2022 elections.

Castro said the President has no personal reaction to this.

“Given the President’s character, we would never hear that kind of negativity from him,” she said.

However, she added, “If anyone regrets teaming up with him, it’s their loss, not the President’s.”

Marcos and Duterte ran under the UniTeam banner in the 2022 national elections. However, their political alliance was fractured, which became evident when Duterte resigned from her post as education secretary last year.

Speculation about their falling out intensified when Duterte revealed that she had instructed someone to kill Marcos, his wife, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were ever assassinated.

San Juanico Bridge as tourist spot

Castro sees nothing wrong with the San Juanico Bridge being a tourist attraction—something that Duterte also criticized in her speech in Australia.

In her flight to Melbourne, Duterte said she saw an advertisement about a hotel that mentioned San Juanico Bridge as one of the tourist spots in the Philippines.

“I was very irritated about one portion of the advertisement that (said) in Tacloban, the tourist spot is San Juanico Bridge. How can a 2.6-kilometer bridge be a tourist spot? I was very irritated,” Duterte said in her speech.

This was rebutted by Castro, saying in Filipino: “Let us remember: The San Juanico Bridge is a symbol of beauty and engineering capabilities during its time, back in 1973 – most of you, most of us, were probably not even born yet – but until now, it still stands strong, still there. The San Juanico Bridge only needs rehabilitation.”

She even compared it to the Golden Gate Bridge in California and the El Marco Bridge in Europe.

“And let us remember, it’s not the size, length, or shortness of a bridge that determines whether it should be considered a tourist spot,” she said.

“The San Juanico Bridge is 2.16 kilometers long; the Golden Gate is 2.7 kilometers, yet the Golden Gate in San Francisco is considered a tourist spot. Even the El Marco Bridge, the shortest bridge measuring only six meters, is also called a tourist spot,” Castro explained.

She added that it was disheartening to see fellow Filipinos “putting down” the country’s tourism, especially since Marcos had just returned from Japan to promote the Philippines as a travel destination. /das/mr