‘Broken from start’, UniTeam sees complete collapse

MANILA, Philippines — While it felt real, especially for millions of Filipinos who brought Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte to the presidency and vice presidency, the UniTeam, which Sen. Imee Marcos had described as “marriage made in heaven,” was after all just an illusion.

Back in 2021, Sara, who had been expected to seek the presidency, decided to slide down for Marcos, saying that they agreed to pursue a unifying leadership should they win the election the next year, May 9.

However, while some pointed out that the UniTeam would eventually break, their alliance, which was intensely backed by political families from across the Philippines, looked real.

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Sara, a grandchild of a leading critic of Marcos’ father, the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr., in Davao City, even shielded her running mate from the attacks of his own dad, Rodrigo Duterte.

Rodrigo had said Marcos is a “weak leader,” but Sara, who defended her decision to slide down, said that Marcos, who had a stint as governor of Ilocos Norte and a member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, is experienced.

Sara, who called on people to protect Marcos, stressed that “in life, we may always find ourselves being the leaders, but there are times when we should stand behind another leader.”

She even reiterated this as the campaign period started the next year, Feb. 8, saying that Marcos’ experience is the “kind of experience we need not only to sustain the growth and development spurred by the current administration.”

READ: Sara Duterte’s call: ‘We must protect Bongbong Marcos’

“[It is the kind that would] bring a more prosperous future,” she said.

But only over a year after winning the election by a landslide, cracks in the UniTeam started becoming visible, especially after the House, led by Marcos’ cousin, Martin Romualdez, stripped Sara of her P650 million confidential funds.

A year later, the UniTeam that almost only had pagkakaisa throughout the campaign period, has completely collapsed just like what political analysts expected from the start.

“This is something we have expected to happen given the lack of strong parties and the dominance of personalities and political families in politics in the Philippines,” said Maria Ela Atienza, professor of political science at the University of the Philippines.

She told INQUIRER.net that “there were no agreed principles and programs to begin with,” pointing out that both Marcos and Sara “simply wanted to win and protect their families’ interests.”

“However, after winning, both parties pursued different interests and protected themselves,” Atienza said as she stressed that even allies had to choose sides, with a lot picking, as expected, Marcos.

“The UniTeam was bound to unravel from the beginning given the lack of clear political parties and party discipline,” she said. “The dominance of personalities and patronage rather than programs” was a reason, too.

Strong but weak

A few months before the filing of candidacies in 2021, Marcos’ sister, Imee, already said that a Marcos and Sara alliance will be a “marriage made in heaven,” stressing that the “north and south” would bring the two to the presidency and vice presidency.

READ: Sara-Bongbong tandem in 2022 a ‘marriage made in heaven’ – Imee Marcos

When Sara decided to slide down, Gerard Eusebio, a professor of political science at the De La Salle University, told INQUIRER.net that Sara might have realized that seeking to succeed his father, Rodrigo, will not work for her and Marcos.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

This, as Marcos already saw himself leading in presidential surveys after Sara declared that she will no longer bid for the presidency on Oct. 8 that year. The two did not risk dividing votes.

READ: Dutertes, Marcoses: Curtains rise on politics unprecedented in PH

As pointed out by Atienza, Marcos and Sara “united to win and they succeeded,” especially with the campaign bankrolled by relatives of Marcos Sr.’s cronies in the case of Marcos, and political parties in the case of Sara.

Based on data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Marcos spent P623 million, while Sara spent P216 million, both within the P674 million-limit set for the election in 2022.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

Marcos’ spending was higher than Rodrigo’s P371 million in 2016 and Benigno Aquino III’s P403 million in 2010. Sara’s spending was lower than Leni Robredo’s P418 million in 2016 and Jejomar Binay’s P217 million in 2010.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

With P247.23 million, Marcos’ highest contributor was Antonio Lagdameo Jr., who was later appointed as special assistant to the president. Lakas-CMD contributed the most to Sara’s campaign at P139.12 million.

GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/INQUIRER.net

But while they won with over 30 million votes, Atienza saw a problem: Marcos and Sara were not united in the way they would govern because of the “lack of ideological or programmatic unity or agreement.”

“So the ‘unity’ was already very weak and brittle especially with different personalities seeking dominance and preparing for the next elections,” said Atienza.

Broken from the start

It was stressed by Atienza that since the UniTeam was an alliance of convenience, it was bound to break at any moment, especially since there were too many personalities and parties involved.

She pointed out, too, that Marcos and Sara unwilling to be a symbol of unity for both the government and the alliance was a problem, saying that despite winning by a landslide, it seemed like there were crises after crises that the two failed to control.

Both Marcos and Sara had said that the UniTeam is still “vibrant,” but some instances proved the contrary—there was already an intensifying rift as early as May 2023, when the House demoted Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The House said that the reason behind the demotion of Arroyo was to lighten her workload, but there were allegations that she was removed because she had planned to oust Romualdez. She denied this, however.

But Arroyo’s demotion was followed by Sara’s resignation from Lakas-CMD, the political party she joined after withdrawing her candidacy for local executive of Davao City in 2021.

She said that her decision was triggered by “political toxicity” and “execrable political powerplay.” While she did not drop names, Romualdez is the president of Lakas-CMD and Sara’s campaign manager in 2022.

Sara, who previously resigned from the regional political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, later went on Instagram to warn Filipinos against people who are tambaloslos, which she said may be interpreted as a joke or an insult in Bisaya.

No certainty

As pointed out by Atienza, even if Marcos and Sara came from the same slate, things would have turned out differently if the Philippines had strong political parties bound by clear ideologies or programs and party discipline.

While Rodrigo, son of Soledad, who has been a leading “yellow” activist who resisted the dictatorship, disliked Marcos from the start, Atienza said that he might have felt that the Marcoses would owe him a debt of gratitude over Marcos Sr.’s 2018 burial.

The problem, however, is that “the Marcoses may not look at it that way” since they may still be thinking that Marcos Sr., who was president for over 20 years, deserved to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Now, Rodrigo was already investigated by the House over the killings in his war on drugs.

This month, the House quad committee said that the elder Duterte, Senators Bong Go and Bato dela Rosa, two former Philippine National Police chiefs and two other ranking police officers should be charged with crimes against humanity.

READ: House tags Duterte, et al. for ‘crimes against humanity’

For Atienza, the collapse of the UniTeam is a clear indication that it is always better to have an alliance based on principles instead of one that is of political dynasties.

“Alliances built on principles can lead to programs that matter and people can choose based on programs, performance and impact of policies,” she said.

Secret resources

Last year, as the House deliberated on the 2024 budget, it was revealed that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent P125 million in confidential funds in only 11 days in 2022.

This prompted lawmakers to discuss the realignment of the proposed P650 million confidential funds for the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), where Sara served as secretary.

But while Sara hit back, her tirade was not enough to stop the decision of the House, which was labeled as the “most rotten institution” by her father, who expressed exasperation over the removal of Sara’s secret funds.

In response, the House passed a resolution stating that it is imperative to affirm the chamber’s “dignity, integrity and reputation” as well as back the leadership of Romualdez.

RELATED STORY: Romualdez vows to defend House, members vs ‘dissatisfied few’

Two allies of the Dutertes – Arroyo and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab – lost their posts after being the only two leaders of the House who did not sign the resolution.

READ: House reps find Duterte’s tirades offensive, a serious attack – secretary general

Looking back, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said that a lot of House members considered the tirades made by the elder Duterte offensive and a serious attack.

But Rodrigo persisted and called Marcos an addict, with Sara’s brother, Baste, even saying that Marcos should already step down. The allegation, however, was laughed off by Marcos: “I think it’s the fentanyl.”

Sara on the bad side

Sara immediately distanced herself and even said that she has a good relationship with Marcos and that they do not have problems, but in April this year, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos disclosed that Sara is already on her bad side.

Liza pointed out that she felt bad when Sara laughed as her father, Rodrigo, called Marcos “bangag.” Sara, however, responded by saying that Liza’s personal feelings have nothing to do with her work as vice president.

READ: Sara shuns Liza’s ‘personal feelings’; opts ‘private talk’ with Bongbong

But even with this, Marcos still defended Sara from those calling for her removal as secretary of DepEd. “If you are incompetent or corrupt, we will replace you, but Inday (Sara) is not like that,” he said.

A few months later, however, Sara resigned as secretary of education and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and said that the UniTeam was only for the 2022 elections.

She skipped Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July, too.

Sara, in the next few months, saw herself in trouble as the deliberations for her office’s P2.037 billion proposed allocation for 2025 started. She had heated exchanges with Sen. Risa Hontiveros at the Senate and Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers) at the House.

‘We’re not friends’

Last August, throughout the interpellation at the House, even when questions were not about her previous confidential funds, which she said was no longer related to her budget request for 2025, she only had this to say:

“I would like to forego the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted.”

Her 2025 budget was later slashed by more than half, or to only P733.2 million

With the issues directed against her, she was again asked if she and Marcos had met or talked, but Sara, who had outrightly expressed his admiration for Marcos in the past years, clarified that she and Marcos are “not friends.”

READ: VP Duterte on President Marcos: We’re not talking, we’re not friends

In response, Marcos said: “I always thought that we were but maybe I was deceived.”

READ: ‘I was deceived,’ Marcos says of VP Sara’s ‘friendship’

It was also in October when Sara, who criticized the government for the “PR attack” against her, said that the Philippines is “on this road to hell” because Marcos “does not know how to be president.”

Marcos’ son, Ilocos Rep. Sandro Marcos , fired back and said that Sara “crossed the line.”

“Going ballistic was perhaps the self-therapy she prescribed for herself. But she crossed the line, leaving the civic and civil space in which disagreements can be rationally argued,” he said.

Sara knew all too well?

Last month, Sara expressed her exasperation over the detention of her chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, for contempt, and lashed out at Marcos, Liza and Romualdez, cursing them “p….ina ninyong lahat,” an invective her father is known for.

Sara said that there is a plot to assassinate her which she would counter with her own plot to kill Marcos, Liza, and Romualdez if the plot against her succeeded, stressing that she had already discussed her plan with someone who agreed to execute it.

Duterte, however, backtracked and stated that what she said was “not a threat.”

READ: Sara backtracks on remarks vs Marcos

But she previously alleged that the investigation of her use of confidential funds is a government attempt to sidetrack issues of corruption, implying that back in 2022, Romualdez even told her that the Marcoses were pilfering campaign funds.

Sara said that to ease the concerns of Romualdez, she told him that she will send him all the donations she will receive, but Romualdez allegedly expressed dismay over Medy Poblador, who has been receiving funds on Sara’s behalf.

Poblador is Arroyo’s controversial “presidential assistant,” who was previously described by Rodrigo as someone who was like the owner of Malacañang when Arroyo was still president.

Sara also alleged that Marcos is a liar for saying that rice would be worth P20 a kilo, a promise already criticized as “impossible” as early as 2022, but Sara did not say a thing.

Marcos later hit back and said that “it is not right to stifle elected leaders’ search for the truth,” saying that the problem should not have ended up with “drama” if direct answers were given instead of nonsensical tales.