Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte along with Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and Congressman Ramon Romulo led the launching of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) and School Mental Health Program held at Esteban Abada Elementary School in Quezon City on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte will talk to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. about an apparent rift between her and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, she said Monday, adding that there were more important matters for the nation to focus on.

In an interview on Anthony Taberna's YouTube page "TUNE In Kay Tunying" last week, Araneta-Marcos said that the vice president had "crossed the line" by laughing along at comments made by former President Rodrigo Duterte that Marcos supposedly uses narcotics. The vice president's father has since walked the comments back.

READ: Duterte backtracks on drug claims vs Marcos, Mindanao secession

"Mga kababayan, bilang tao, karapatan ni Unang Ginang Liza Marcos na makaramdam ng sama ng loob at galit," Vice President Duterte said.

"Subalit ang kanyang personal na damdamin ay walang kinalaman sa aking mandato bilang isang opisyal ng pamahalaan."

(My fellow Filipinos, as a person, First Lady Liza Marcos has the right to be angry and feel hurt. But her personal feelings have nothing to do with my mandate as a government official.)

RELATED: Liza Marcos on Sara Duterte: 'Bad shot na sa akin 'yan'

She said that she would have a private conversation with the President on ways to move forward from the issue.

A seeming rift within the UniTeam — the coalition formed among the country's largest parties and political families — has seen criticism of the Marcos at political rallies, followed by calls for Mindanao secession and for the military to withdraw support for its commander in chief, and has prompted calls for Duterte to resign from the Cabinet.

'LET'S FOCUS ON COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS'

Duterte said there were bigger issues that the government needed to address.

"Patuloy ang pagtaas ng presyo ng pagkain at iba pang mga bilihin at ito ay mas nagpapahirap pa sa dinaranas na gutom o kawalan ng sapat na pagkain ng mahihirap nating kababayan," she said.

(The prices of food and other goods keep rising and this adds to the burden of Filipinos who are hungry or do not have enough food.)

She said the country also faces water and power shortages, the illegal drug trade, and the continuing threat posed by crime, terrorism and insurgency.

"Dapat ay nakatutok tayo sa pagtugon sa mga suliraning hinaharap ng ating bansa," she said in Filipino, a point she stressed in Bisaya later in the statement.

(We should be focused on addressing the problems our country is facing.)

— Report from Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News