VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte refused to dignify the allegation that she threw a laptop at a colleague, specifically Atty. Michael Poa, calling it “trash gossip” and “disinformation” orchestrated by political opponents.
In an interview held in The Hague, the Vice President asserted that such an incident had never occurred in her professional history.
Duterte claimed that she rarely uses a laptop because she is not tech-savvy.
“I don’t use a laptop because I don’t know how to… use a computer,” Duterte said in Filipino.
She explained that she relies on her office staff for document processing, only utilizing a laptop for Zoom meetings to maintain a professional image.
The Vice President further noted that the laptop she owns is a personal purchase, claiming it was “too expensive” for the government to afford.
“The government couldn’t afford the laptop I wanted… so I bought it myself,” she said. “I don’t throw things at people, and secondly, I wouldn’t throw my laptop because it’s personal; if it breaks, I’m the one who has to pay for a new one.”
Duterte said this is part of a broader campaign to paint her as unstable or incompetent. She listed several labels she claims have been unfairly pinned on her, including “crazy,” “pro-China,” “corrupt,” and “a brat.”
“They want to push a narrative that I’m unstable,” the Vice President stated, adding that while the rumors are “baseless,” they are being consumed on social media to favor her political enemies.
Duterte is currently in the Netherlands for a tourism-related engagement, even as political tensions remain high back in the Philippines.
‘The money is gone’
Meanwhile, Duterte warned that the Philippine government is on the brink of a functional collapse as its national coffers are so depleted that district allocations for lawmakers are already effectively “zero.”
Addressing rumors that lawmakers fear losing their local funding if they side with her, Duterte said they are worried about losing something that does not exist.
“It’s really zero now. There’s no money left,” Duterte said in Filipino. “Whether there is an impeachment or not, there is no more money that can be given.”
mOOE vs. essential services
The Vice President cited the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) typically allocated to individual congressional districts. She suggested that prioritizing these “parked” funds over the broader needs of the bureaucracy is a recipe for disaster.
“If they still give congressmen their MOOE funds [at the expense of others], the government will no longer be able to function,” she warned, adding that legislators may be chasing “phantom” budgets.
The statement comes as the 2026 national budget faces intense scrutiny, with a widening deficit reported in the first quarter of the year and ongoing debates over “unprogrammed appropriations” and congressional insertions.
Meanwhile, the government has yet to respond to the said statement.
