From The Hague, Vice President Sara Duterte made clear she had no intention of engaging with anything President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. laid out in his fifth State of the Nation Address, dismissing the annual report to Congress as an exercise the country could do without.
“Hindi ako nanood ng SONA, like last year, and wala akong planong basahin ang nilalaman ng SONA o kahit man lang summary. Dahil I truly believe it is a waste of time of the Filipino people,” she said in an interview in the Netherlands, where she had traveled after visiting her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained at the International Criminal Court.
Marcos delivered the address on the afternoon of July 27 before a joint session at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. The Vice President was invited to attend but was overseas from July 16 to 31 on a trip her office described as covering both official and personal engagements, according to the Office of the Vice President. It was the second year running that she stayed away, having first begun boycotting the event in 2024 after breaking with the administration and resigning as education secretary.
Much of her criticism centered on a pledge Marcos highlighted early in his speech: that the Office of the Ombudsman was preparing to bring charges against his cousin, former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, over irregularities tied to flood control projects. The Vice President advised the public against placing any stock in that announcement. She recalled a similar vow from a year earlier and questioned what came of it, arguing that neither Romualdez nor members of the House should be expected to end up behind bars.
Duterte also characterized the administration’s broader anti-corruption drive as a “PR stunt” built to protect the President’s standing. In her view, Marcos cannot separate himself from the flood control mess because he approved the spending law behind it. She tied this directly to the case for removing him from office, contending that signing a budget he knew contained insertions—one that departed from the National Expenditures Program before emerging as the General Appropriations Act—amounts to an impeachable act.
She framed her grievances partly through what she said were unmet personal commitments. According to Duterte, she made only two requests of Marcos when she agreed to run alongside him in the 2022 election, and one was set aside within months. Turning to his public pledges, she pointed to the promise of rice at P20 per kilo and the vow that individuals would be jailed before Christmas, saying neither materialized.
Duterte, who left the country on July 21 while her impeachment trial was underway, told reporters her supporters would gather outside the ICC on July 29 for what she called a “Free Duterte Now” rally protesting what they see as an injustice against the former president. She said she had informed her father of the plan while warning him it might do nothing to help his case before the tribunal.
