Veronica Duterte, daughter of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, has dismissed calls for explanation after a video of her holding a U.S. passport went viral online.
“I don’t mind them actually. I’m a Filipino citizen. I don’t think I have to explain since I’m a private citizen,” Veronica said, addressing questions raised on social media about her citizenship.
The video, taken outside the Scheveningen penitentiary in The Hague, showed Veronica alongside her sister, Vice President Sara Duterte, greeting supporters of their father, who is currently detained over alleged crimes against humanity linked to his controversial war on drugs.
In one clip, Veronica was briefly seen with what appeared to be a U.S. passport before slipping it into her designer handbag.
Back in 2017, the former president himself revealed in a speech in Myanmar that his youngest daughter holds American citizenship. Her mother, Honeylet Avanceña, reportedly worked as a nurse in the U.S. before returning to the Philippines.
