A sister of Vice President Sara Duterte pushed back against the impeachment proceedings targeting the official, saying she believes the VP is incapable of the dishonesty alleged against her.
Veronica “Kitty” Duterte, speaking in an interview posted on Alvin and Tourism’s Facebook page Wednesday, offered a personal defense of her sibling following a unanimous House justice panel vote finding probable cause to impeach the Vice President. The 53-0 decision, reached after deliberations on complaints citing unexplained wealth and alleged misuse of public funds, advances the case to the full House.
“I know my sister. I know that she can be many things, but she’s not a thief. She’s not dishonest,” Kitty said.
She also expressed confidence that her sister would endure the ordeal. “I know that she can withstand what she’s going through right now because she has her truth, and at the end, that will prevail,” she added.
Kitty was speaking from The Hague, where their father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is detained on crimes against humanity charges. She said the subject of Sara’s impeachment has not come up with him. “I haven’t discussed [it] with my father also because we don’t want to add to his burdens,” she said.
At the center of the impeachment case is a financial disclosure made before lawmakers. Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura told the House panel that banks had flagged 33 suspicious transactions and 630 covered dealings worth ₱6.7 billion linked to the Vice President and her husband, Manases Carpio. The defense team’s spokesperson, Michael Poa, disputed the figure, characterizing it as “bloated” and suggesting it may reflect both the inflows and outflows of the same transactions rather than a net figure.
Separately, the Duterte camp filed a bid Thursday to appeal the decision by the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I confirming crimes against humanity charges against the former president. Official government data from his administration recorded at least 6,000 deaths during his drug war, though human rights organizations and the ICC prosecutor place the toll between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone.
