[In This Economy] Will Sara Duterte be good for business and the economy?

• Vice President Sara Duterte faces impeachment trial allegations of undeclared wealth, business interests, and connections to drug trafficking, raising questions about her credibility and future political aspirations.
• Despite her calls for human rights, accountability, and a predictable business environment, her family's controversial history and her own impeachment raise doubts about her commitment to these principles.
• Critics argue that her recent speech reflects hypocrisy, as she distances herself from the failures of her father's administration while failing to provide a clear vision for her potential presidency in 2028.

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Juicy revelations recently surfaced in the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, including alleged undeclared wealth that could reach P1.5 billion, continuing business interests (banned by the Constitution), and even supposed remittances from China and Hong Kong to a company linked to Duterte’s husband.

The evidence is so overwhelming that the chances of a conviction seem to have spiked, at least from where I sit. In fact, as of Tuesday, October 13, the prosecution dropped 3 of 4 impeachment charges, seemingly confident that the remaining one on unexplained wealth can stand on its own.

Until there is conviction, though, Sara Duterte continues to be a contender in the 2028 elections. In fact, based on the latest polling data, she’s a frontrunner.

The problem that bugs me is that until now, Sara Duterte has said little about her specific plans or vision for the country, as well as economic reforms and policies she might put in place in case she wins.

On October 13, she had an opportunity to lay out those plans at the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 52nd Philippine Business Conference and Expo (watch video below), held at the Manila Hotel. There, she called for respect for human rights, accountable government, and businesses free from political harassment. She also demanded integrity and competence from public officials.

But are these exhortations credible? How did the Dutertes (Rodrigo and Sara) measure up to these standards when they had the power to put them into practice?

Human rights

Let’s start with a pretty bold statement: VP Sara said, “Imagine a Philippines where human rights are upheld, justice is fair, laws are applied and respected.”

This one is jarring to hear because of everything that happened in her father’s drug war (2016–2022). Thousands were killed, possibly more than 30,000, and various human rights organizations documented widespread killings, arbitrary detention, and persistent impunity. All this culminated in the historic arrest in March 2025 of Rodrigo Duterte, who now awaits trial at The Hague.

Will Sara do a repeat of the drug war? Will Sara assure the victims of the drug war that there will be no repeat, and that those who perpetrated abuses during her father’s regime will be held to account? Her speech offered no assurance that those abuses would never happen again.

A few days ago, Thai authorities intercepted a drug shipment that’s supposed to be headed to the Philippines. VP Sara said in response: “We recognize the concerns surrounding the Philippines’ role in regional drug trafficking and express my deep regret that our country has become associated with this problem.”

But during the impeachment trial, a bank witness testified that funds from Sara and Rodrigo Duterte’s joint account were used to purchase a manager’s check payable to Samuel “Sammy” Uy, whom former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has accused of involvement in the drug trade.

Free speech, doing business

In the PCCI speech, Sara also spoke of the need for people to freely express their opinions. Yet her father repeatedly threatened ABS-CBN over its franchise. In 2020, the broadcaster was ordered off the air after its franchise expired, and a House committee rejected its renewal. The Palace claimed neutrality despite Duterte’s very public hostility. Apart from this, Duterte also attacked Rappler and filed trumped-up charges left and right.

Sara also asked her audience to imagine businesses that need not give to politicians just to be safe from harassment. She added: “Policies should be predictable. Businesses and individuals can plan for the future without fearing arbitrary government decisions.”

But exactly the opposite happened during her father’s time. Policies were weaponized against Duterte’s perceived enemies, and Duterte infamously cursed and railed against prominent businesspeople.

Who would forget Duterte’s capricious and abrupt closure of Boracay Island to tourists in 2018? Then in December 2019, Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail the people behind Manila Water and Maynilad over their concession agreements. He also floated a military takeover of their operations. Sure, water contracts deserve scrutiny, but the government could’ve reviewed them through lawful processes without threatening businesspeople with imprisonment.

This is what one might call “economic lawlessness,” and it’s a major turnoff for potential investors. Think about it: why commit money to a project that takes years to pay off if the president can threaten your company and upend its dealings with government? Such uncertainty makes investments riskier and political connections more valuable.

Does Sara now think her father’s threats were wrong? Would she keep personal grudges out of regulatory decisions? These are basic questions for someone promising a predictable business environment.

Competence and integrity

Sara also declared that leaders should be open to investigation and held responsible for misconduct. Corruption, she said, drains resources from essential services.

But this is precisely the reason why she’s been impeached not once but twice. Her father’s track record in this regard is also questionable.

Recall the Senate investigation into pandemic procurement involving Pharmally. In October 2021, Rodrigo Duterte directed executive officials and employees to stop attending the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearings on the 2020 Commission on Audit report. His government denied corruption allegations while obstructing the basic scrutiny that should have tested them.

Meanwhile, Sara also has her own spending to explain, and this brings us to the current impeachment trial at the Senate. Her office spent P125 million in confidential funds in 11 days in 2022. State auditors disallowed roughly P73 million for violating confidential-fund rules, findings her camp contests. Sure, spending quickly alone proves no wrongdoing, and an audit disallowance is no criminal conviction. But how does she reconcile these findings with her talk of integrity?

On education, Sara called for capable teachers and quality learning. As education secretary from 2022 to 2024, however, she defended a P150-million confidential-fund request for 2024 on national-security grounds, before eventually dropping it. Why prioritize secret spending in an agency struggling to provide the basics of education?

Her father’s education record was disastrous as well. By August 2021, UNICEF reported that the Philippines was among only five countries that had not started in-person classes since the pandemic began. More than 27 million students were affected by the prolonged school closures, which meant lost learning and poorer prospects for future earnings and our economy’s productivity.

Third plague?

Sara’s concerns about the cost of living, jobs, and public services also invite a closer look at the previous Duterte administration.

In my new book, Twin Plagues: How Duterte and Covid-19 Wrecked the Philippine Economy, I examine how her father’s governance compounded the pandemic’s damage. COVID-19 hit countries around the world. How to protect livelihoods and keep essential services working depended on government decisions, and to this day Duterte hasn’t answered for this.

Even before COVID-19, Filipino households suffered under Rodrigo Duterte through the 2018 inflation surge. Higher world oil prices and food-supply problems contributed, while the administration’s excise-tax increases added to prices.

Sure, the current Marcos administration deserves criticism for its failures. But is VP Sara well placed to do this? What exactly in her track record suggests that she can do a much better job, if at all? She needs to explain her own decisions and tell us which of her father’s policies she would continue or abandon.

All in all, VP Sara’s speech on October 13 amounts to breathtaking hypocrisy. At the same time she turns on the current Marcos administration, she turns a blind eye to the disastrous presidency of her own father—and also the many red flags in her own track record.

This country already paid dearly for twin plagues from 2016 to 2022, namely Duterte and COVID-19. We can’t afford a third plague come 2028 in the form of yet another Duterte. – Rappler.com

Jan Carlo “JC” Punongbayan, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics. His professional experience includes the Securities and Exchange Commission, the World Bank Office in Manila, the Far Eastern University Public Policy Center, and the National Economic and Development Authority. JC writes a weekly economics column for Rappler. He is also co-founder of UsapangEcon.com and co-host of Usapang Econ Podcast.

His first book, False Nostalgia: The Marcos “Golden Age” Myths and How to Debunk Them, was published by Ateneo de Manila University Press in February 2023. His second book, Twin Plagues: How Duterte and COVID-19 Wrecked the Philippine Economy, was published by Penguin Random House SEA in June 2026. Follow him on Instagram (@jcpunongbayan).