VP Duterte says travel authority to Laos ‘fabricated’

MANILA (UPDATED) — Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday called her supposed travel authority to Laos as “fabricated.”

A travel authority document circulated on social media allegedly saying Duterte received permission to travel to Laos.

In a statement, Duterte said this is a desperate move that has no “credible evidence.”

“What we see instead is desperation, exemplified by a purported travel authority for Laos that appears to have been fabricated to prop up a narrative unsupported by credible evidence,” she said.

“Remarkably, the document was never confirmed by the Office of the President on September 29, 2026, who has always made it a point to announce my foreign travels,” Duterte added.

Duterte said the fabricated document is the latest desperate attempt to bring her down.

“Now, we are witnessing an apparent shift in the government’s narrative in taking me down, attempting to reframe the matter as a national security issue,” she said.

“Every thread seems to be stretched into a conspiracy—from a business venture allegedly linked to Chinese funding to a drug bust in Laos supposedly connected to a Mindanao-Davao conspiracy,” Duterte added.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier clarified they found no link of the drugs seized in Laos to the Dutertes.

Some House prosecutors on Tuesday reacted to the vice-president’s statement, with with Bicol Saro party-list Representative Terry Ridon saying there should have simply been “outright denial” instead of long explanations. 

“Defensive ka teh? The purported Laos travel authority was never confirmed by the Office of the President, it was merely distributed unattributed in social media. Ang sagot sa fake news tulad ng Laos travel authority ay outright denial ng kasinungalingan, hindi maraming sabi-sabi tulad nito,” Ridon said on Tuesday.

House lead prosecutor Representative Gerville Luistro, meanwhile, noted that there is no result yet from the investigations of the DILG and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

“Surprisingly, the vice president is the one pre-empting the connection,” said Luistro. “In her own statement, the connection can be inferred – Cale 88 to China to [the] Llaos operation to drug conspiracy.”

House Deputy Speaker Jefferson Khonghun earlier mentioned wanting a probe into alleged remittances from China to Cale 88, which is allegedly linked to Duterte’s husband.

PDEA is looking into the multibillion-peso narcotics shipment bound for the Philippines and seized by Laotian authorities earlier this month.