In a little more than two more years, Filipinos will once again choose their new leaders, and names are already being floated as possible contenders for the nation’s highest post.

Among them is another Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte. Asked about her political plans, she expressed uncertainty about the country’s future.

“Will there still be a country worth talking about in 2028?” she said.

She pointed to what she described as the worsening national issues, saying the country is not only grappling with severe flooding but corruption and other longstanding problems that she believes have not been adequately addressed.

The Vice President also criticized Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro, saying her statements have embarrassed the country.

“Claire Castro is bringing shame to our country. When someone speaks that way and says those kinds of things, she brings embarrassment to the nation, which is why she should not be listened to or given attention,” she said.

Emotional vulture

Responding to Duterte’s statements, Castro characterized them as political theatrics.

“That’s the Duterte brand, showing the characteristics of an emotional vulture,” Castro said.

An “emotional vulture” is a person who preys on others when they are emotionally vulnerable, broken, or otherwise weak, much like a bird of prey waiting for its victim to weaken.

“We can say that the Vice President is blind for not seeing what the President is doing. She’s blind because, I suppose, she is not watching or doesn’t want to watch what the President is doing. All drama, without contributing to the gains of the nation,” Castro told reporters in a Palace briefing.

The Palace mouthpiece said the Philippines will be doomed if Duterte becomes president in 2028.

“That is likely to happen if the leader elected in 2028 turns out to be a Manchurian candidate, a puppet of another country, someone who could end up giving away our resources and our sovereign rights to a foreign power,” she said.

“Former President Duterte once said that we should become a province of another country. So if we end up electing a Manchurian candidate, we might indeed become a province of a foreign country. Let’s hope it never comes to that,” she added.

Castro also slammed the VP for saying that she (Castro) only brings humiliation to the country and the world doesn’t want to listen to what she says.

Castro recalled the time Duterte in a video message threatened the President and others with assassination should something happen to her.

No elections in 2028?

The Vice President doubted there would be elections in 2028, believing the President will not step down, the same way his father, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., declared martial law and did not step down.

Asked by reporters her Valentine’s Day message to Castro, Duterte expressed a wish that Castro and the President would end up together.

Meanwhile, Duterte expressed hope that the international court would exercise fairness in the case against her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his administration’s war on drugs.

“Our prayer is that the court will be fair. Whichever court it may be, anywhere in the world, that is our prayer — that the court will act with fairness and impartiality,” the Vice President said in an interview in Davao City.