Vice President Sara Duterte answers questions from reporters during the media thanksgiving party at the Office of the Vice President’s headquarters in Mandaluyong City on December 11, 2024. | Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Holy Monday called on the public to have faith and emulate Jesus Christ in order to “overcome darkness,” amid what she says to be a time of “heavy trials and growing division.”
In her message during the nation’s annual Holy Week observation, Duterte tagged the occasion as an opportunity “to reflect on the sacred offering of Jesus’ life.”
“As our nation goes through immense trials and growing division, Lent is a call to a season of healing, repentance, and remembering the values we, Filipinos, hold dear: compassion, faith, and unity,” she said in a statement in Filipino.
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According to Duterte, Filipinos should follow Jesus Christ’s example—to teach it, spread it, and use it to advance and strengthen communities.
“Let us have faith. Let us unite. We will overcome the darkness. God save the Philippines,” she added.
While Duterte did not specify what particular hardships the country currently faced, the vice president’s message for the lenten season comes amid her family’s worsening feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his administration.
UniTeam brand
Originally running mates in the 2022 elections under the “UniTeam” brand, the pairing has since broken apart mere months after they both won the two highest positions in the country.
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Their feud first reached its peak when Duterte left Marcos’ cabinet—then a few months later when she bared that she assigned someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza, and cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez in the event of her own demise.
However, it was when her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Court, when their feud seemed to have come to a head and reconciliation appeared no longer possible.
Rodrigo is currently detained at the ICC detention center in Scheveningen, The Hague, after he was arrested for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during his administration’s bloody war against drugs.
Rodrigo’s war against drugs led to at least 6,000 people dead, with human rights groups reporting at least 20,000.