Dismayed and deceived? Marcos thought VP Sara Duterte was a friend 

Almost a month after Vice President Sara Duterte denied — belatedly — that she was ever friends with her winning 2022 presidential bet and erstwhile ally, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he was “dismayed” to learn that they were not friends after all. 

“That’s a good question. I don’t know anymore,” said Marcos in an interview with reporters in Laos, where he participated in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on Friday, October 11. 

Marcos was asked to describe his relationship with the former Davao mayor, after she remarked that they weren’t friends, and had never spoken prior to becoming a tandem in the 2022 elections. Duterte, daughter of Marcos’ predecessor, recently left the Cabinet and has rapidly made clear that she’s no longer allied with the administration. 

“I’m not quite sure I understand. I’m a little dismayed to hear that she doesn’t think that we are friends. I always thought that we were. But maybe I was deceived,” said Marcos of his 2022 “Uniteam” partner. 

But, you see, this isn’t just about hurt feelings and “deceit” over who’s a friend and who isn’t. 

The 2022 Marcos-Duterte tandem, after all, resulted in an unbeatable coalition that included the biggest and most infamous names in Philippine politics. It led to majority wins for both — the first for a president or vice president since the return of democracy to the Philippines, when the current President’s dictator-father was ousted from power. 

Marcos had earlier admitted that he had not spoken to Duterte since she handed in her resignation as education chief in late June 2024. 

Her resignation signaled not only the long-expected breakdown of the coalition, but the sound of fury of Philippine politics ahead of the 2025 midterm elections. In Duterte’s hometown of Davao, for instance, Karlo Nograles is challenging the former president Duterte for the mayoralty post while newbie legislator Migs Nograles will be challenging Sara Duterte’s brother, Paolo, to represent the city’s first district. The Nograles family — its youngest politician member Migs, particularly — is an ally of the Marcos administration. 

Marcos’ visit to Laos would also be the first time since the start of the administration that Duterte is not the official caretaker of the government. 

The President downplayed what the new arrangement means, and only pointed out that since she’s no longer part of the administration, it would be “unfair…to impose that duty” since it’s no longer part of Duterte’s work. – Rappler.com