At least 12 of the 17 publicly known foreign visits Vice President Sara Duterte made in 2025 were spent accompanying her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and later on calling for his release from The Hague Penitentiary in Scheveningen, Netherlands.
Duterte listed all her overseas trips during the budget deliberations of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) before the House Committee on Appropriations on Sept. 16, noting the Netherlands as her most-visited country with at least four recorded visits.
Rodrigo Duterte remains detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity, stemming from extrajudicial killings during his anti-illegal drug campaigns as both Davao City mayor and later as Philippine chief executive.
RELATED: Interim release bid denied, Duterte may commit crimes vs humanity anew — ICC
Tinig ng Plaridel reviewed all of Vice President Duterte’s publicly known foreign visits in 2025, including activities conducted during each trip. The publication found she spent at least 61 days abroad on travels related to her father’s arrest.
TNP also identified at least 10 international “Free Duterte Now” related events attended by the vice president, with two appearances under supposedly “private” and “personal” trips.
January
Japan: Sara Duterte went on a “private trip” in the country from Jan. 11 to 12. During her visit, she attended a meet-and-greet event with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), though the purpose of her participation was not disclosed.
February
Japan: A week after the House of Representatives voted to impeach her, the vice president was seen in a series of posts traveling with her younger sister, Veronica “Kitty” Duterte. Although it was not confirmed at the time whether Kitty was posting in real time, the vice president eventually confirmed before the House appropriations committee that she had traveled to Japan in February.
March
Hong Kong: Vice President Duterte, together with her father, joined the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) abroad for the former president’s campaign sortie and thanksgiving event.
After the former president returned to the Philippines, he was apprehended following the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant. He faces charges of crimes against humanity over extrajudicial killings in his administration’s war on drugs.
March to April
The Netherlands: Sara Duterte stayed in The Hague for nearly a month, assisting her father with his case.
On March 23, the vice president attended a gathering with Europe-based Filipino supporters who rallied behind her father amidst his detention.
May to June
Qatar: Vice President Duterte and Sen. Imee Marcos met with OFWs during a thanksgiving gathering on May 26. They also attended a mass to “pray for the safe and immediate return” of the former president.
The Netherlands: From May 30 to June 4, the vice president returned to The Hague to visit her father.
She celebrated her birthday on May 31 by attending the “ICC, send Duterte home” protest in the city with her younger brother and acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, along with their Filipino supporters based in Europe.
Pro-Duterte allies Sens. Marcos, Robinhood “Robin” Padilla and Rodante Marcoleta were also seen present at the event.
The vice president urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to bring the former president back to the Philippines and let the local courts determine whether his detention at The Hague is legal.
June
Malaysia: The OVP said Sara Duterte went on a “personal trip” with her family to Kuala Lumpur on June 10.
Two days later, she led the Philippine Independence Day celebration in the Malaysian capital with Duterte-allied senators Marcos and Padilla.
Australia: The vice president attended the “Free Duterte Now” event during her “personal trip” to Melbourne on June 22, where she claimed the former president is suffering from “injustices” in the ICC.
Although Australia was among the countries considered by Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team for his possible interim release, the vice president clarified her visit was not for that purpose.
July
The Netherlands: Sara Duterte returned to The Hague on July 5 to “maximize” the additional visitation days granted by the ICC to her father.
On July 19, she led another “Free Duterte Now” rally in the city.
South Korea: On July 27, the vice president attended a “Free Duterte Rally” with her supporters. Scheduled for the next day was President Marcos’s fourth State of the Nation Address, which she said she would not listen to because it only “wasted” her cellular data.
August
Kuwait: The OVP said Sara Duterte went to Kuwait on Aug. 15 to “discuss concerns and issues” of the Filipino community.
France: Three days after her Kuwait trip, she made a brief stop in Paris to meet with Filipino supporters in France.
The Netherlands: For the first time, all four children of former President Rodrigo Duterte visited him at the ICC detention center.
September
Japan: From Sept. 20 to 21, Sen. Padilla accompanied the vice president in her travel to Tokyo and Nagoya City for separate “Free Duterte Now” campaigns.
The Netherlands: Sara Duterte went back to The Hague on Sept. 23 for her father’s initial schedule of confirmation of charges. However, the proceeding was postponed after his defense team requested an “indefinite adjournment,” saying the former chief executive was “not fit to stand trial.”
October
Singapore: Vice President Duterte visited on Oct. 25 for an OFW community gathering. She was with Sen. Padilla and several senatorial candidates under PDP-Laban who lost in the 2025 midterm polls.
December
The Netherlands: On Dec. 2, the vice president returned to The Hague to visit her father following ICC’s denial of the former president’s bid for temporary release.
Public or personal funds?
During the same Sept. 16 budget hearing of the OVP, the vice president said no “public funds” were used for her travels.
“I did not charge [for] representation. I did not charge tickets. I did not charge per diem for all my travels in the Office of the Vice President. So if you can see in the breakdown of the budget of travel for [the] Office of the Vice President, you can see that there was a zero amount for the vice president,” she said.
OVP assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortionio, however, said the travel costs for staff and officials were charged to the office’s fund, as the vice president only covered her personal expenses during those trips.
“That P7.47 million [in foreign travel expenses] was utilized for the security personnel of the OVP and including the close-in or the civilian personnel,” he said.
The OVP received a P733.2-million appropriation in the General Appropriations Act of 2025 — the lowest since 2023, with P62.5 million allotted for the office’s travel expenses, covering both foreign and local trips.
By July 31, the OVP had spent P20.6 million for travel, with P13.2 million for local trips and P7.4 million for overseas visits, according to OVP budget division chief Kelvin Gerome Tenido.
Tenido also said the OVP’s proposed 2026 budget allocates P20 million for foreign trips, the lowest during the vice president’s term.
The 2026 National Expenditure Program proposed allocating the OVP an overall P889.2-million budget, including a travel fund of P56 million for local and overseas trips, also the lowest since Sara Duterte assumed the vice presidency.
While the House Committee on Appropriations initially approved a P902.8-million fund for the OVP, it was reduced to the 2025 level of P733 million on Oct. 10 after Duterte repeatedly declined to defend the budget before the chamber’s plenary.
Meanwhile, the Senate retained the OVP’s original proposed budget of P889 million on Nov. 27 with deliberations lasting less than five minutes.
‘World tour’ under fire
The frequency of the vice president’s overseas visits has been the subject of criticism by Malacañang.
“Tingin ko, dapat po isipin po niya na kailangan din po siya ng Pilipinas bilang bise presidente. Siya po dapat ay nagtatrabaho hindi lang para sa kaniyang ama,” Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said on March 19 after Duterte accompanied her father in The Hague despite complaints about the “malicious” names that allegedly received confidential funds from her office.
The vice president responded a day later, describing herself as a “multitasker.”
“Hindi ko nakakalimutan ang aking trabaho diyan […] Araw-araw kami nag-uusap ng aking mga kasamahan. Iilan na lang ang naiwan na projects dahil approximately P700M ang budget namin diyan,” she said.
In June, Castro called out the vice president over her use of the OVP’s official Facebook page to livestream her message at a Melbourne event calling for her father’s release, even though her Australia trip was said to be “personal.”
Castro added the palace wished Sara Duterte had been “honest” about the nature of her trip, saying there would be potential conflicts of interest in claiming the trip was personal while performing official functions.
The livestream had already been deleted from the OVP’s Facebook page, but several Philippine media outfits reuploaded the said livestream from the OVP’s Facebook page, including GMA Integrated News, ABS-CBN News Channel and Manila Bulletin.
Castro also said Vice President Sara Duterte should disclose the details of her Australia trip as she performed official functions.
The vice president, however, argued she was not required to submit a report on the details of her trip as it was a personal one. “Kapag gumagamit ka ng pera ng gobyerno, official business ‘yan [kaya] kailangan mo mag-report,” she said in a press briefing held June 27 in Davao City.
