Vice President Sara Duterte said she has built a stronger relationship and bond with her father, Rodrigo Duterte, and younger half-sister, Kitty, following the incarceration of the former Philippine president at the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands.
VP Sara told reporters in The Hague, where she has been staying since her father’s deportation there last month, that they now have a father-daughter relationship.
“This really is ironic, but I have to thank Bongbong Marcos because there was forgiveness between me and PRRD for all that has happened in our lives,” she said.
“We have that relationship now – a father-daughter relationship since we cannot discuss anything legal anymore because it is understood inside that only the lawyers can discuss legal matters with the former president,” she added.
Her visit to the former president on Tuesday, April 1, was “one of the longest meetings I have had with the former president” as they discussed family matters.
The Vice President shared that Duterte had always been busy with work while she was growing up.
“And now I have this everyday with him—talking about life, talking about family. For that, I feel like I’m blessed,” she said.
She also seemed to have built a new relationship with younger half-sister Veronica “Kitty” Duterte as both of them visited their father with Honeylet Avanceña, Kitty’s mother and the former president’s common-law wife.
“I am blessed because I gained a sister after everything that happened—the attacks, the confidential fund attacks, and the impeachment. And we have a relationship now, I have a relationship with Kitty and I am happy now,” the Vice President said.
Before their father’s arrest, she and Kitty even took a vacation in Japan.
“I’m happy that I have a sister, kasi mayroon akong pagagalitan. Growing up, wala akong ganon. But mayroon ako niyan ngayon pinagagalitan na kapatid,” she shared in jest.
The Vice President added that their father would have to return to the Philippines for Kitty’s boyfriend.
While the official had never detailed her relationship with her father, it was widely believed—through some interviews and remarks from her—that she had a rocky relationship with the former president.
During the 2022 filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC), the former president even denied knowing about his daughter’s plan to run as President Marcos’ running mate and admitted that he hadn’t talked with her for a long time.
MORE UNITED
In a rare interview with reporters in The Hague, Kitty also said she has been updating her father about the family and that they are more united than ever.
“Ngayon, mga positive things lang. We are telling him things that will uplift his spirit and things that will give him strength while he is inside,” she added.
The former president “is really happy to see us,” Kitty shared, “As I have told him, the family has never been more united, not just with us siblings, but with everyone else in the family.”
Asked about what advice her father gave her, the former presidential daughter said that “there is a time for everything.”
“I learned to take time to breathe, to slow down and to just trust in God’s time and take everything at my own pace,” she added.
Kitty and her mother, Honeylet, arrived in The Hague last week, in time for the former president’s 80th birthday on March 28. (Raymund Antonio)
