Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday said she has not spoken yet to Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who on Sunday night called on President Marcos to resign, and blamed her brother’s statement on the “despicable treatment” she was getting from people close to the Chief Executive.
“Baste” Duterte, the youngest son of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said Mr. Marcos “better resign” if the Chief Executive doesn’t “show love and aspiration for the country.”
“I have not spoken to my brother about his remarks on the President’s resignation,” the Vice President said in a statement, the morning after she attended the “Hakbang ng Maisug” forum and prayer rally in Davao against moves to amend the 1987 Constitution.
“I can only surmise that he is coming from a place of brotherly love, coupled by the common sentiment that I do not deserve the despicable treatment that I am receiving from some sectors within the circle of the President,” she added.
Despite the apparent tensions between the Marcos and Duterte clans, the Vice President said she would put the Philippines first and “stay true to my work at the Department of Education, unless the President says otherwise.”
Speaking in Filipino, Duterte-Carpio said she believes the people’s vote for her is an indication of trust that she will work and serve just the Filipino people.
“Gayunpaman, naniniwala ako na ang boto ng taumbayan ay isang pagkakaloob ng tiwala na ako’y magtatrabaho at maninilbihan para lamang sa Pilipino,” she said.
Part of this trust, the Vice President said, is her belief that she can fend off any attack and slander thrown at her person.
“Kasama ng tiwalang ito, ang tiwalang kakayanin ko ang anumang atake, black propaganda, paninirang-puri, at iba pang mga hamon na ibabato sa aking pagkatao,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio said she takes heart “from the confidence of the people in my ability to work and thrive in a pandemonium.”
Her father, former president Duterte, also warned Mr. Marcos late Sunday that he could suffer the same fate as his father, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was removed from power following the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
The elder Duterte accused his successor of being a “drug addict,” citing a document he was supposedly shown by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) during his tenure, a claim the agency denied later Monday.
Mr. Marcos, speaking to reporters on Monday before his departure for Vietnam on a two-day state visit, laughed off the claim after saying the former President may already be suffering the side effects of the anti-pain drug fentanyl, which he said Duterte has been taking “for 5 or 6 years now” to manage various ailments.