Vice President Sara Duterte shot down the claim that the present political turmoil was rooted in her supposed ambitions for presidency, bringing up her glowing survey ratings during the 2022 presidential elections and pointing out that she had not initiated the current House probe into her office’s utilization of funds, which she believes to be more akin to “political persecution and harassment.”

“Unang-una, the presidency of 2022 was mine already, na nanalo na ako sa surveys, lahat ng tao, solid na, united na for my candidacy. Pero I gave it away because I felt I had to do some other things, other than being President of the Republic of the Philippines,” the Vice President told reporters at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center on Saturday.

(First of all, the presidency of 2022 was mine already. I won the surveys, all the people were solidly united in backing my presidential candidacy. But I gave it away because I felt I had to do some other things, other than being President of the Republic of the Philippines.)

She added that she did not ask for an investigation, “that is more like a political persecution and harassment of OVP personnel,” she claimed.

(So they shouldn’t gaslight me into saying I’m the reason behind this chaos. This chaos began with their terrorism, their harassment, their threats against the personnel of the Office of the Vice President.)

This was in response to House Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun’s statement that Duterte seeking the country’s highest seat of power “too early” was the reason for the divide between the two most politically preeminent Filipino families.

“All this chaos began when our Vice President aspired to be president too early, when her father aspired for her to be president immediately. Had there been no one who preemptively launched ambitions to be president, all would be quiet. We all know what caused everything happening now,” Khonghun stated.