Vice President Sara Duterte flew to Kuwait on Friday to meet with overseas Filipinos there, her office confirmed over the weekend.
“The Vice President visited Kuwait on Friday where she joined the Filipino community in a gathering to discuss concerns and issues impacting their sector,” the Office of the Vice President (OVP) said in a statement.
The OVP said the visit was part of Duterte’s mandate to look after the welfare of Filipinos abroad. “It is essential that she remains actively engaged with the Filipino migrant communities wherever they may be.”
The statement pointed out her foreign trips were “conducted in full compliance with government rules and regulations,” adding that “no public funds were used in all her travels overseas.”
The OVP also said the Vice President will continue to exert efforts on securing the release of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands on a charge of crimes against humanity linked to his administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Malacañang, for its part, said it would leave the announcements about Duterte’s travels to her office.
“Hayaan po natin na OVP ang magsabi ng mga byahe niya ngayong August (Let’s let the OVP tell us about her trips this August),” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro told reporters on Saturday.
Reports earlier this month suggested that Duterte would be traveling to Kuwait after a visit to the Netherlands. The former president is scheduled to face the court again in September.
The issue of transparency in the Vice President’s trips had surfaced before. In June, after she traveled to Australia, questions were raised about the difference between her personal and official trips.
At the time, Castro reminded the OVP that official functions required public disclosure.
“This was an official function so she should report to the public who were in her entourage and if she paid for the trip,” she said in Filipino.
She later clarified that personally funded trips do not require a report or liquidation.