Vice President Sara Duterte and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos
MANILA, Philippines — First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos admitted to snubbing Vice President Sara Duterte following her attendance at the controversial prayer rally where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was called a drug addict.
During the prayer rally organized by Duterte’s family in January, the Vice President’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, called incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “bangag”, a slang term for a drug user.
Speculations of Araneta-Marcos snubbing Sara Duterte circulated after footage from President Marcos Jr.’s departure ceremony to Vietnam in January showed the two women seemingly avoiding each other.
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“May departure time na, so nandito si Sara, nandito ako, so normally nag-uusap kami. So ayoko, [then] sabi ni ano, somebody went to me and said, ‘Uy ang ganda mo today.’ ‘Hindi, mukha akong bangag.’ No reactions. Bangag…bangag is the word of the day,” said Araneta-Marcos in an exclusive interview on Tune-in Kay Tunying.
(It was departure time, so Sara and I were here, so we usually talk. So I did not want to, and then someone said to me, ‘Uy, you are so beautiful today.’ ‘No, I look like a drug addict.’ No reactions. Drug addict… drug addict is the word of the day.)
“After that, I snubbed her. I’d do it again. I mean, that’s not right, you don’t do that. That’s entitled politics. You’re in the government, you’re the vice president,” said the first lady.
READ: First Lady Liza hints at possible tension with Imee Marcos
Araneta-Marcos also recounted another snubbing incident during their recent trip from Prague last March. After seeing the Vice President again, the President told his wife to behave.
“Sabi ko, ‘Wrong person, honey,’” Araneta-Marco said.
(I said, ‘Wrong person, honey’.)
For the first lady, Vice President Sara Duterte crossed the line.
Araneta-Marcos said in the same interview that she was “always kind” to Sara Duterte, her husband’s running mate in the 2022 presidential elections.
But now, “Bad shot na ’yan sa akin (She’s now in my bad graces),” she said when asked if there was any hope of reconciliation between her and Sara Duterte.
“My husband will do everything to protect you. You ran together, ‘di ba, sama-saba tayo babangon muli. Pupunta ka sa rally, tawagan ‘yung presidente mong bangag, ‘di ba? Tama ba yan? Even Leni never did that,” Araneta-Marcos likewise said, referring to former vice president Leni Robredo.
(My husband will do everything to protect you. You ran together, right? And we will stand again together. You go to a rally denouncing the President as a drug addict, right? Is that right? Even Leni never did that.)