Sara Duterte —Senate PRIB
PAGUDPUD, ILOCOS NORTE —President Marcos on Friday played down the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party, which many observers saw as an early sign that the formidable political alliance they forged for the May 2022 elections had started to crumble. Speaking to reporters after leading the inauguration of the 160-megawatt wind farm here, the President said Duterte had a lot of work awaiting her as Vice President, education secretary and as recently appointed co-vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
Political toxicity
In a statement on Friday announcing her sudden resignation as member of Lakas-CMD, the ruling party at the House of Representives currently headed by Speaker Martin Romualdez, Marcos’ cousin, Duterte said her desire to serve the country should not be “poisoned by political toxicity or undermined by execrable political powerplay.”
Asked for his comment on Duterte’s decision, Marcos said: “Very simple, it’s exactly as she says. You know Inday Sara is very plain spoken.”
“She has too much work to do. She cannot be involved in any of these. She cannot allow herself to be distracted. That’s the way I read it,” he added. “She has to concentrate on her job as the secretary for the DepEd and now NTF-Elcac… She has a lot to do, so I can understand why she would say, ‘Oh, fix that first, I’ll do the important thing I need to finish first.’”