Sara Duterte says it's unfair to drag family members into impeachment proceedings

Vice President Sara Duterte said it is “unfair” to involve family members in her impeachment proceedings after several of them were mentioned in allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of funds, and illegal drug payouts.

“Well, I think it's unfair dahil hindi naman sila vice president at hindi naman sila ini-impeach,” Duterte said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday.

(Well, I think it's unfair because they're not vice presidents and they're not being impeached.)

“And tulad ng mga asawa at mga anak din ng mga congressman, they have the right to privacy being ordinary individuals and private citizens,” he added.

(And just like the spouses and children of congressmen, they have the right to privacy being ordinary individuals and private citizens.)

During the impeachment proceedings, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV alleged that around P181 million from an individual identified as alleged drug lord Sammy Uy was distributed among members of the Duterte family.

These included Sara, her father former president Rodrigo Duterte, her brothers Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, as well as her husband Manases "Mans" Carpio.

Also included were Rodrigo’s partner Honeylet Avanceña and their daughter Veronica “Kitty” Duterte.

Visiting the former president

VP Sara was in The Hague to visit her father who is in detention at the International Criminal Court (ICC) as he is facing charges of crimes against humanity for the killings during his term as Davao City mayor and president.

She said she did not inform her father about her possible impeachment to spare him from stress.

“Hindi ko binanggit sa kanya ang impeachment. At hindi ko binanggit sa kanya ang mga nangyari sa House of Representatives so hindi niya alam na merong pangalawang posibleng impeachment na mangyayari,” she said.

(I didn’t mention the impeachment to him. And I didn’t mention to him what happened in the House of Representatives so he didn’t know that there was a second possible impeachment that would happen.)

“Dapat ang alam lang niya ay 'yung mga happy na mga bagay. Lalo pati nag-iisip tayo na baka nga diyan siya bawian ng buhay sa loob. Diyan siya mamamatay sa loob ng detention,” she added.

(All he should know are the happy things. Especially since we are thinking maybe he will die in detention.)

According to VP Sara, the former president was very chatty about politics during her visit.

“He's okay, very chatty today, mostly about politics. At least, siguro mga (perhaps around) 95% of the conversation was about politics,” she said. —KG, GMA News