VICE President Sara Duterte considers the cases filed against her husband, Manases Carpio, and her brother, Davao City First District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, as “political harassment” and “political attacks.”
“Hindi lang diyan sa kaso ng nafinile sa kanila, lahat ng ito ay political harassment, political attacks, nakikita niyo naman, lumabas siya nung umalis ako sa DepEd [Department of Education], lumabas siya nung nagsasalita na ako kung anong dapat ginagawa natin para sa ating bayan,” Duterte said in a media interview on Saturday, August 17, 2024, at the Davao City Library & Information Center.
(Not only regarding the case filed against them, but all of this is political harassment, political attacks. As you can see, this all came up when I left DepEd and started speaking about what we should do for our country).
Duterte hopes that the Filipino people should not forget that the real issues are poverty and the rising prices of food, as these are the basic needs of the people. She said the public should not be swayed by the noise, but instead focus on the real problems facing the country.
She also said that only her husband could address his alleged involvement in the multi-billion-peso shabu shipment in 2018.
“Napag-usapan din ng aking asawa na si Mans Carpio na kung ano yung sa kanya na issue siya lang sasagot at kung ano yung sa akin yun lang din ang sasagutin ko para klaro yung mga linya ng pagsasagot (My husband, Manases Carpio, and I have discussed this, and we agreed that issues concerning him would be answered only by him, and issues concerning me would be answered only by me, so that the answers are clear),” she said.
The Vice President added that she cannot also comment about his brother, Paolo as he has already issued his statement on the matter.
To recall, Paolo and Carpio were implicated by Jimmy Guban, a former officer of the Bureau of Customs, during a joint congressional hearing on August 16, 2024. Guban claimed that the multi-billion-peso shabu shipment seized in 2018 belonged to them. Former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang was also allegedly involved in the same issue. RGP