Marcos to Sara: Glad I could help

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Vice President Sara Duterte he was "glad he could help" after she thanked him for paving the way to renewing her relationship with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, Malacañang said Thursday.

In a briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said she talked to Marcos to get his reaction to the vice president's statement that the downfall of their 2022 "UniTeam" led to the rebuilding of their father-and-daughter relationship.

In an interview this week, the vice president said that while it was "ironic," she thanked Marcos because she and her father had achieved "forgiveness" for all that has happened to them the past several months.

"I relayed this to the President, and his response was 'glad I could help,'" Castro said in Filipino.

She said it would have been better if the younger Duterte also thanked her father, because whatever time they are spending together now in the Netherlands is a result of the former leader's unforgiving campaign against illegal drugs.

"Had the war on drugs not happened and no one filed a complaint, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to The Hague. So, it's better she thanks him first," Castro said.

The former president was arrested in Manila on March 11 and within hours was turned over to the International Criminal Court to face trial for crimes against humanity.