Vice President Sara Duterte fiercely defended her family during PDP-Laban’s miting de avance on Thursday, accusing the Marcos administration of orchestrating political attacks and insisting that the Duterte family is not to blame for the country’s struggles.
“I am not the problem of the Philippines. The Duterte family is not the problem,” she declared before a crowd in Manila. She claimed that recent months have seen a coordinated smear campaign aimed at removing the Dutertes from public life, but questioned who truly benefits from their elimination—not the poor, jobless, or hungry, she argued.
Without naming names, Duterte took jabs at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., accusing him of being out of touch, lacking leadership, and failing to fulfill campaign promises, such as reducing rice prices to ₱20 per kilo. She also slammed the administration’s approval of her father Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court.
Duterte criticized the misuse of financial aid (ayuda) as a tool for vote-buying, calling it an insult to Filipinos. She warned that what once helped during the pandemic has now become a means of exploitation to maintain political power.
She further accused the administration-backed coalition, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, of plotting election fraud and manipulating the poor through a dangerous union of incompetence, elitism, and political opportunism. She likened their goals to reviving narco politics and the chaos seen during disasters like Typhoon Yolanda.
With just days before the May 12 elections, Duterte urged Filipinos to vote with courage, resist bribes, and reject corruption.