‘Ibigay ang hilig ng walang ligalig.’ (Give the desire without trouble.)
This was the response of Palace Press Officer Claire Castro to questions on why the Office of the President (OP) approved Vice President Sara Duterte’s request for a 22-day overseas travel.
At a briefing on Thursday, Castro also refuted claims that the OP intentionally granted Duterte’s request a day before her departure, which Duterte said was a last-minute decision.
The request was made on April 14, and according to Castro, it usually takes five business days to process. This is the same process followed for other officials who request travel authority.
Duterte on Thursday said she will soon file a new travel request and asked for its prompt issuance to allow sufficient time for travel preparations.
‘The vice president, based on records, receives her travel authority documents a day before her intended trip. So, she was not denied. There is also no record showing that when she requested a vacation or a personal trip for an extended period, she was ever refused. Therefore, to say that this was a last-minute resolution or decision is not accurate. This is because this is what usually happens-the travel authority is normally given to her a day before,’ Castro explained in Filipino.
‘Why did the vice president change her mind? What made her change her mind is the 6.7 billion question,’ she added.
Castro was referring to the alleged amount of suspicious transactions that flowed through the bank accounts of Duterte and her husband, Mans Carpio, from 2006 to 2025, as flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
During the briefing, Castro also dismissed Duterte’s request for confidentiality regarding her approved travel authority, citing security concerns.
‘She is a public servant; she is not a private individual. She cannot hide things she wants to conceal. There are matters that the public needs to know because she is a public servant,’ Castro said in Filipino.
‘For example, amid the crisis in the Middle East and the billions-worth of issues currently involving the vice president and her husband, if you were asked, if you were the vice president, would it be appropriate to go on vacation? If what she wants is to take a vacation and go on a world tour to pursue her personal interests, considering that she does not have an ILBO (Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order) and there is also no precautionary hold departure order in place,’ she added.
When asked for a message to Duterte regarding her continued absence from congressional hearings on the impeachment complaints against her, Castro said there was no need for one.
‘She is already an adult. Second, she is the vice president and a public servant. She says she promotes accountability and transparency, so she should know what she needs to do and how to explain it to the public. Therefore, she does not need any message from the Palace,’ she said in Filipino.
Impeachment proceedings against Duterte continued on Wednesday. The House justice committee reviewed financial documents, including her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth, tax filings, and business records, to examine allegations that she amassed wealth beyond her declared income.
She is also accused of misusing hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she was its secretary.