Bongbong Marcos on Sara leaving Lakas: She has too much work to do
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio in this file photo taken during the oath-taking ceremony in Cebu. Image from BBM / Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday said he sees the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from her political party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) as a means to avoid distraction from her work.
Duterte announced her irrevocable resignation from the political party, where she has served as chairperson since November 2021. She ran for vice president in the 2022 elections under the banner of Lakas-CMD.
In a short statement, Duterte said she will not allow her leadership to be “poisoned by political toxicity” or “undermined by political power play.”
“It’s exactly as she says. Alam mo naman si Inday Sara, she’s very plain-spoken. Kung ano yung sinabi niya, ‘yun ang ibig sabihin nya. She has too much work to do. She cannot be involved in any of this, she cannot allow herself to be distracted, that’s the way I read it,” Marcos said in an interview in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
The President noted that Duterte concurrently serves as the Secretary of the Department of Education and is now recently designated as the co-vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
“Kung titingnan mo kung ano ‘yung mga hinaharap niya, talagang marami talaga at hindi siya pwede to be involved in whatever it is that’s going on, she has to concentrate on her job. Marami talaga siyang gagawin so I can understand why sasabihin niya, ‘oh sige, ayusin niyo na muna yan, gagawin ko na muna itong mga importanteng gagawin’,” Marcos said.
(If you will see what she has to deal with, she has a lot of work to do and she cannot be involved in whatever that’s going on. I can understand why she would say “just fix that first, I will just do my job.)
Duterte’s resignation from Lakas-CMD came after the demotion to House deputy speaker of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is the Vice President’s known close ally.
Duterte, who was then Davao City mayor, was said to have played a key role in the election of the Pampanga lawmaker as House Speaker in 2018, after the ouster of then House leader Pantaleon Alvarez.
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