Malacañang has fired back at Vice President Sara Duterte following her criticism of the Marcos administration’s handling of the country’s debt, urging her to revisit her own father’s legacy.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro called out the Vice President for questioning the government’s financial management, reminding her that former president Rodrigo Duterte was largely responsible for ballooning the national debt.
“Ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinanggalingan, hindi talaga malalaman ang katotohanan,” Castro said, stressing that the Duterte administration alone accumulated P6.84 trillion in debt.
Based on data from the Bureau of Treasury, the country’s debt stood at P6.6 trillion in 2016 and swelled to P12.79 trillion by the end of Duterte’s term in June 2022.
While Castro acknowledged that borrowing was necessary during times of crisis, she defended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s current economic agenda. “Ang gusto ng Pangulo ay talagang paangatin po ang ekonomiya at tugunan ang lahat ng pangangailangan ng ating taumbayan,” she said.
Vice President Duterte, speaking in Australia, previously criticized the Marcos administration for the now P16-trillion national debt, saying the economy may appear healthy “on paper” but the public still struggles in real life.
Castro responded by pointing out that even paper reflects progress. “It means she admitted that there is a paper, there are receipts, there is proof that the economy is good and getting better,” she said. “This is not gossip. This is not slander.”
