I don’t want Vice President Duterte impeached – Marcos

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte

HONOLULU — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday (Philippine time) that he does not want Vice President Sara Duterte impeached following reports that some members of the House of Representatives were hatching a plan for her ouster.

Speaking to reporters here before flying back to Manila after his weeklong US trip, the president said they were closely monitoring the developments on the alleged impeachment plans against Duterte, his running mate in last year’s national elections.

“We don’t want her impeached. She does not deserve to be impeached,” Marcos said. “So, we will make sure that this is something that we will pay very close attention to.”

But he admitted that impeachment complaints against high-ranking government officials were no longer new.

Dismissing rumors of a possible rift between him and Duterte, the president described his relationship with her as “excellent.”

“On [a] professional level, I have nothing but good things to say about the work that she has done in the Department of Education,” he said, adding, “On a very personal level, we get along very well.”

READ: Ex-President Duterte: I’ll run for senator or VP if Sara is impeached

‘Informal discussions’

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro earlier said there were “informal discussions” among her colleagues about a possible impeachment case against Duterte.

But Speaker Martin Romualdez and other leaders in the lower chamber immediately denied the rumors. “I’m not aware of anything. Nothing filed, no news of that,” Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos, told reporters.

“I don’t know your sources but there’s nothing in the offing, nothing in general,” he added.

Aside from Romualdez, Majority Leader Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe described the report as “fake news” while another lawmaker said there were no such discussions among party leaders or House officials.

Castro later clarified that the supposed impeachment talks against Duterte were “premature.”

The President also denied that there was already a “crack” in the UniTeam, the coalition that gave him and Duterte a landslide win during last year’s elections.

READ: Speaker Romualdez denies impeachment moves vs Sara Duterte at House

‘That’s wishful thinking’

“That is not true. Let us just look at the political developments in the past months,” Marcos said, pointing out that politicians had joined the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas and the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

“It’s actually become bigger and stronger than it was before. So that’s wishful thinking,” he added.

Asked to comment on her relationship with Mr. Marcos on Sunday, Duterte said that she and Marcos were “okay.”

“I believe I still have the trust of the president,” she told reporters although she said that her office was looking into the reports that there was talk of impeachment brewing against her in the House of Representatives.