President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte lead the Basic Education Report 2024 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on January 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte lead the Basic Education Report 2024 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on January 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MARCOS-DUTERTE

Jonathan Frederic De Santos

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/172943219057820240125-bbm-sara-duterte-educ-report-JC-15.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte lead the Basic Education Report 2024 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on January 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte lead the Basic Education Report 2024 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on January 25, 2024. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. does not know how to lead and has no plans for the country, Vice President Sara Duterte said Friday in a freewheeling media briefing where she also said that she had once imagined beheading the chief executive.</div><p>The rare press conference featured the most pointed comments yet — including a threat to exhume the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and throw them in the West Philippine Sea— in the disintegration of the 2022 polls&#x27; UniTeam, with a lawyer and political analyst saying the word war is likely to escalate even more.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/18/vp-duterte-says-marcos-does-not-know-how-to-be-president-kasalanan-ko-ba-yun-1132">READ: VP Duterte says Marcos &#x27;does not know how to be president&#x27;</a></div><p>Speaking on Teleradyo Serbisyo on Saturday, Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior research fellow with the Ateneo School of Government, said that the Marcos and Duterte factions are gearing up for “<a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/19/vp-duterte-presser-shows-uniteam-unity-was-just-transactional-politics-analyst-1154">an epic battle between two powerful dynasties</a>.”</p><p>Marcos Jr. and the Palace have yet to comment on the press conference, but members of the House, which has been holding hearings on Duterte’s use of confidential funds, called the comments — she also hinted at alleged corruption by Speaker Martin Romualdez and mentioned potentially impeachable offenses by Marcos Jr. —  as a diversionary tactic and advised her to just address questions on her office’s spending.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/20/house-lawmakers-want-answers-from-vp-duterte-on-confidential-funds-use-other-issues-1541">READ: House lawmakers want answers from VP Duterte on confidential funds use, other issues</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT&#x27;</strong></div><p>They soon however threw in questions too about the Vice President&#x27;s capacity to lead and suggested a “psychological assessment” of her mental state, a turnabout for the <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/16/sara-duterte-backs-drug-test-on-gov-t-officials-para-siguradong-nasa-tamang-pag-iisip-1011">Dutertes and their supporters </a>who had questioned Marcos Jr. and his <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/27/expert-warns-of-escalation-in-use-of-deepfakes-after-release-of-fake-video-of-marcos-jr-1247">alleged but unsubstantiated use of illegal drugs</a>.</p><p>“The Filipino people deserve leaders who are mentally and emotionally stable, especially during challenging times,” said House Assistant Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union, a member of the Young Guns group of younger House leaders.</p><p>House Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun of Zambales, also a member of the Young Guns, called Duterte’s comments alarming and said the Philippines “cannot afford to have leaders who let their emotions spiral out of control in such a public and extreme manner.”</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oesA0sB18Io?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>While unexpected, Vice President Duterte’s comments paled in comparison to remarks by her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who had openly cursed and made threats while president and who was applauded for them.</div><p>Former President Duterte, also under scrutiny at the House for alleged extrajudicial killings, has been at times critical of Marcos Jr., whom he has <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/28/duterte-backtracks-on-drug-claims-vs-marcos-mindanao-secession-1723">accused of being a drug addict</a>, but he also <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/9/21/-wala-namang-abuso-duterte-tells-pdp-he-has-no-problem-with-marcos-jr-1457">said in late September that he &quot;does not have any qualms&quot; </a>about his successor.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="http://House quad comm invites Duterte to October 22 hearing">RELATED: House quad comm invites Rodrigo Duterte to October 22 hearing</a></div><p>“This is going to be even more dramatic,” Yusingo said Saturday.</p><p>“Pero ang punto dito is nag-aaway sila pero sino ang kawawa? Tayo ang kawawa (But the point here is, who will suffer while they fight? We will be the ones suffering).”</p><p>In a Facebook post, sociologist Athena Charanne Presto noted that the rivalry between the factions has devolved to mudslinging and &quot;[i]nstead of policy-driven debates that address the needs of the nation, the political discourse is mired in personal vendettas and historical revisionism.&quot;</p><div><strong>TRADITIONAL POLITICS</strong></div><p>Presto added the political fallout of the rift between Marcos Jr. and Vice President Duterte &quot;exposes the fragility of political alliances when there&#x27;s no real governance vision.&quot;</p><p>In her press conference on Friday, Duterte said that it was &quot;obvious&quot; that the Marcoses had only used her to secure election victory for the UniTeam Alliance, at the time comprising the country&#x27;s major parties and political families, against opposition candidate and then Vice President Leni Robredo.</p><p>The tandem offered potential voters unity, promising they would work together, unlike how then President Duterte and Robredo had been at loggerheads over the drug war and other human rights issues.</p><p>But, Yusingco said, that is the reality of transactional politics, where parties work together as long as doing so serves their self-interest, and Vice President Duterte cannot claim to have been bamboozled.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/26/reelectionists-returnees-banner-marcos-jr-senatorial-slate-1145">RELATED: Reelectionists, returnees banner Marcos Jr senatorial slate</a></div><p>“She made her political calculations, the desired outcome ay hindi dumating, hindi niya nagustuhan (the desired outcome did not happen, she did not like how things turned out),” Yusingco said Saturday, adding both candidates benefited from the arrangement.</p><p>Duterte acknowledged on Friday that her being vice president puts her in a better position because she cannot be easily suspended or dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman or the Department of the Interior and Local Government as she would be if she were mayor of Davao City — the post she held before seeking national office and the one she originally filed her certificate of candidacy for in 2021.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WnpBOcT09-o?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>With the breakup of the UniTeam, factions have used the terms <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/2/vp-duterte-acknowledges-debt-of-gratitude-to-kojc-stands-with-group-amid-abuse-1110">budol (buyer&#x27;s remorse)</a> and <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/11/marcos-jr-on-sara-duterte-maybe-i-was-deceived-1606">deception</a> for the unfulfilled promise of unity but De La Salle University political science professor Anthony Lawrence Borja told ABS-CBN News in an online exchange that these fallings-out are common, especially in the Philippines, where political parties are weak.</div><p>&quot;Unfortunately, I don’t think that political parties count as an important object for many and, for this reason, we end up focusing on specific personalities and patrons or even political ideals,&quot; he said.</p><p>He said supporters and potential voters could excuse these &quot;betrayals&quot; depending on the circumstances, the justifications given by politicians &quot;and whether they are known for something else other than being turncoats.&quot; <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/opinion/2024/10/17/politics-at-a-critical-juncture-in-philippine-history-1245"></a></p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/opinion/2024/10/17/politics-at-a-critical-juncture-in-philippine-history-1245">OPINION: Politics at a critical juncture in Philippine history</a></div><p>&quot;The primary impact of this form of coalition-building is the concentration of power for those who can serve as the patron of many,&quot; he said, adding that breaking alliances and forming new ones is seen as normal, especially under themes like unity and national progress, and the bandwagon effect that politicians are not immune to.</p><p>Speaking in May on a possible but ultimately unconsummated alliance between the minority Liberal Party and the Marcos Jr. administration, Dr. Edna Co, a former dean at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, said that party politics in the Philippines has always been about how to increase chances of winning.</p><p>“Basta ang goal is ‘paano kami mananalo’, pero hindi totoo sa substance na political party ito — napaka-fluid,” <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/11/lp-may-have-points-of-unity-with-new-admin-alliance-analyst-1022">she said then</a>.</p><p>(They are looking for ways to merge and unite. The goal is ‘how do we win?’ but they are not a political party in substance — it’s all very fluid.) <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/10/20/senate-hopefuls-marcoleta-querubin-visit-robredo-in-naga-city-1047"></a></p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/10/20/senate-hopefuls-marcoleta-querubin-visit-robredo-in-naga-city-1047">READ: Senate hopefuls Marcoleta, Querubin visit Robredo in Naga City</a></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GDTcy4aLzjk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p><i>Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior research fellow with the Ateneo School of Government, said that the Marcos and Duterte factions are gearing up for “an epic battle between two powerful dynasties."</i></p>

Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior research fellow with the Ateneo School of Government, said that the Marcos and Duterte factions are gearing up for “an epic battle between two powerful dynasties."

WRAP: Political discourse feared to hit gutter as Marcos-Duterte rivalry escalates | ABS-CBN

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WRAP: Political discourse feared to hit gutter as Marcos-Duterte rivalry escalates

WRAP: Political discourse feared to hit gutter as Marcos-Duterte rivalry escalates

Jonathan de Santos,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 20, 2024 09:52 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 21, 2024 09:52 AM PHT

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Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Sara Duterte

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