Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday cast corruption as a modern-day threat to Philippine sovereignty, warning that officials who loot public funds undermine the very freedoms generations of Filipinos fought and died to achieve.

In a speech marking the nation's 128th Independence Day, Duterte invoked the country's long struggle against colonial rule and argued that freedom can also be eroded from within—through corruption, abuse of power and poor governance.

"We fought for our sovereignty against foreign invaders. But sovereignty is not lost only to those who come from foreign shores," Duterte said during Independence Day rites in Davao City.

"Nawawala rin ito sa tuwing ang serbisyo publiko ay nagiging pribadong negosyo. Kung ang mga opisyal ng gobyerno ay mala-sindikato sa pagnanakaw ng pera ng bayan," she added.

Without naming any official or government agency, Duterte said corruption not merely as a crime against the state but as an assault on the rights and welfare of ordinary Filipinos.

The vice president, whose political rift with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has widened over the past year amid congressional inquiries involving the Office of the Vice President and escalating exchanges between their respective camps, said every peso lost to corruption translates into opportunities denied to the public.

"Every peso stolen from the people's treasury steals a child's freedom from hunger. It steals a student's freedom from illiteracy or substandard education. It steals a patient's freedom to obtain quality healthcare," Duterte said.

"Every ghost project is a classroom never built. Every corrupt contract is a road that was never built for farmers to bring their produce to the market."

She said corruption ultimately robs citizens of dignity, opportunity and hope—the very ideals that inspired the country's heroes to fight for independence.

"Ang korapsyon ay hindi lamang pagnanakaw ng pera. It steals opportunity, it steals dignity, and it steals hope. And ultimately, it steals freedom itself," she said.

Duterte anchored her speech on the country's declaration of independence on June 12, 1898, when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the birth of the First Philippine Republic in Kawit, Cavite after more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

But she noted that the struggle for freedom did not end there.

Recalling how the Treaty of Paris transferred the Philippines from Spain to the United States without the consent of Filipinos, Duterte praised the revolutionaries who chose resistance over submission.

"Freedom was never a gift. It was paid for and earned through courage,” she said. 

Drawing from that history, Duterte urged Filipinos to reject complacency and demand better governance from public officials.

"Hope survives when citizens refuse to accept bad governance as their destiny. On this Independence Day, let us resolutely stand up again for truth, for accountability, for freedom, and for sovereignty," said Duterte.