VICE President Sara Duterte traveled to Kuwait Friday, her 10th foreign trip for the year, surpassing the five official visits to other countries by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the last eight months.
VICE President Sara Duterte traveled to Kuwait Friday, her 10th foreign trip for the year, surpassing the five official visits to other countries by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the last eight months.
Duterte arrived in Kuwait Friday morning and then proceeded to meet with the Filipino community there. Her visit to Kuwait follows sojourns to seven countries since the start of 2025, beginning with a personal trip to Japan, followed by a visit to Hong Kong to campaign with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in March, a day before he was arrested by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity over his bloody war on drugs.She later followed him to The Hague in the Netherlands, and went back two times after that, in May and in July.Aside from her visits to The Hague, she has also addressed Filipino communities in Malaysia, Qatar, Australia and South Korea.Her 10th foreign visit this year comes amid criticism of her frequent travels abroad.In a briefing on Aug. 12, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Duterte’s overseas trips are not a solution to the country’s problems.“It is not the job of the vice president to travel and demand the overthrow and removal of the President,” Castro said in Filipino.In July, Castro said President Marcos was working, not vacationing, another clear reference to Duterte’s frequent travels.In a statement on Saturday, the Office of the Vice President said that as part of her mandate to represent and advocate for the welfare of all Filipinos, including those overseas, it is essential that she remains actively engaged with the Filipino migrant communities wherever they may be.The OVP added that she will “discuss concerns and issues impacting their sector.” “She will then proceed to continue working on the release of our former head of state Rodrigo Duterte who was forcibly taken from Philippine soil,” the OVP said.The OVP said that these engagements are conducted in full compliance with existing government rules and regulations and that no public funds were used for all of her travels overseas, refuting claims that her travels were funded by public funds and that she did not apply for any travel authority from Malacañang.Duterte has said in an earlier interview that she accepts invitations to speak at different Filipino community events abroad because she wants to express her thanks to the Filipino community who voted her and her father into office.“I’ve always been thankful, and I’ve always expressed my gratitude to the Filipino communities worldwide. But when we receive invitations, we really try to accommodate it so that we can personally thank everyone,” Duterte said.She said that one of her duties as vice president is to answer the invitations of various associations and invitations of Filipino communities abroad to discuss what happened to her father and what she called the injustice of the International Criminal Court in holding an 80-year-old man in detention despite his health problems.OVP spokesman Ruth Castelo also defended Duterte over her travels, attributing them to a “daughter who wants to visit her father who is already 80 years old.” She also said Duterte remains in control of the OVP despite her travels.“Our operations do not stop. The work of any government or private office is that it never sleeps when the boss is away. It is not like when the cat’s away the mouse will play. It’s not like that especially in government as they are covered by civil service rules. And there are competent and able people in the Office of the Vice President who can work without the vice president. If there are only important decisions, it has to be cleared with her,” Castelo said in an earlier interview.
More Well-Traveled Than Marcos This Year
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