Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday made clear that her family has not used public money to visit her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague over his bloody anti-drug campaign.

In an ambush interview, Sara said they are using personal funds and never bothered to compute the expenses, calling it their expression of full support for the former president.

“We don’t compute our expenses when it comes to supporting former president Duterte,” she said. “During our travels, we pay for ourselves… to visit the former president.”

Sara confirmed she had just returned from another private visit to The Hague, accompanied this time by her son.

“It was a very good day, very productive visit,” she said. “We discussed so many things because I was with my son — we talked about sports, education, scholarships, who should benefit from scholarships, and we even talked about girlfriends.”

She said the visit centered around family life and light topics meant to lift the mood of the former president, who was visibly pleased seeing his grandson again.

“All our discussions revolved around the life of a young boy,” she said. “He was visibly pleased when he saw his grandchild.”

Still, the shadow of the ICC proceedings lingered, with Duterte bringing up the core issue at the heart of the case — his war on drugs.

“He mentioned drugs, and the current state of our country in terms of illegal drugs,” Sara said.

She then quoted her father’s message to his grandson: “Not everyone in jail is bad. I am not a kidnapper, I am not a robber… I am here because I did things for my country. And I do not regret going after criminals and people dealing in illegal drugs.”

Her remarks come amid heightened scrutiny of government use of confidential and intelligence funds — including allegations made by lawmakers that the OVP disbursed funds using fictitious names.

Sara dismissed the accusations as baseless and said such claims would be best addressed in court.

“Our lawyers are preparing for trial and collecting pieces of evidence and gathering affidavits from witnesses that they will present,” she said.

“I think it is wrong for everyone to pick up as truth or as fact all the pronouncements of the members of the House of Representatives, particularly with fictitious names,” she said. “There are rules in intelligence operations. Aliases are often used.”

“I do not want to elaborate on intelligence operations,” she added.

Audit praise

The vice president also pointed to the Commission on Audit’s issuance of an unmodified opinion on the Office of the Vice President’s financial statements — its highest possible rating — as proof of transparency and good governance.

“It shows the transparency, accountability, and compliance of the OVP with all the regulations required,” she said. “We are thankful for the hard work of the OVP.”

Duterte reiterated that her office is not political and that her spokesperson was never meant to act as an attack dog.

“Her job is for the OVP. It’s not political, it’s not for me,” she said. “That is why she will only bring good news, accomplishments, and announcements of the OVP… We do not want to besmirch the reputation of our office.”