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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
June 23, 2025 | 6:26pm
President Rodrigo Duterte witnesses the program proper before leading the wreath-laying ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon Lezion, Israel on Sept. 5, 2018. Joining the president is presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Presidential photo / Karl Norman Alonzo
MANILA, Philippines — The Palace told Vice President Sara Duterte to look at the past.
After criticizing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration for a national debt of P16 trillion, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said to Duterte: “Ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinanggalingan, hindi talaga malalaman ang katotohanan.”
(Those who do not look at their past, will not know the truth.)
Castro reminded Sara that her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, had significantly contributed to the country’s high debt.
The Duterte administration alone is responsible for P6.84 trillion worth of debt.
Data from the Bureau of Treasury supported Castro’s claim.
In 2016, the country’s national debt was at P6.6 trillion. By the end of Duterte’s term in June 2022, the country’s national debt nearly doubled to P12.79 trillion.
The Palace exec admitted that during times of crisis, debts can be unavoidable. However, Marcos’ administration remained committed to further developing the economy.
“Ang gusto ng Pangulo ay talagang paangatin po ang ekonomiya at tugunan ang lahat ng pangangailangan ng ating taumbayan,” Castro said.
(The president wants to uplift the economy and tend to the needs of the country.)
In her speech in Australia, where she criticized the country’s debt, Sara said that while the economy looks good on paper, people still do not feel it.
Castro’s response? Paper is still proof.
“It means she admitted that there is a paper, there are receipts, there is proof that the economy is good and getting better. This is not gossip, this is not slander because she admitted that there are papers,” Castro said in Filipino.
