“GLAD I could help.”

This was the response of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., according to Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, to Vice President Sara Duterte, who thanked him “ironically” for helping mend the relationship between her and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Vice President is in The Hague, Netherlands, where her father is detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges related to his controversial war on drugs as mayor of Davao City and as president.

In one of her media interviews, the younger Duterte credited Marcos as there had been “forgiveness” between her and her father.

“This really is ironic, but I have to thank Bongbong Marcos because there was forgiveness between me and [former President Duterte] for all that has happened in our lives,” the Vice President told reporters.

Castro, in a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday, said she told Marcos about the Vice President’s remarks and the President supposedly replied, “Glad I could help.”

Castro added that it would have been more appropriate for the Vice President to first thank her father, pointing out that any interaction between her and her father in The Hague was a direct result of the case against Duterte related to alleged extrajudicial killings.

“Mas maganda po siguro kung magpasalamat muna si VP Sara sa kanyang ama mismo, kay dating pangulong Rodrigo Duterte. Dahil kung siya man po ay nagkaroon ng pagkakataon, nagkaroon ng oras kasama ang kanyang ama, ito ay dahil sa kasong EJK,” Castro said.

“Kung hindi po naganap, at hindi nagawa sinasabing mga aksyon patungkol sa war on drugs at walang nag-complain, hindi rin naman sila magkakaroon ng pagkakataon na makapunta sa The Hague,” she added. Philippine News Agency

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