Imee on friendship with VP Sara: We also get annoyed with each other
Like any relationship, Sen. Imee Marcos said on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, that her friendship with Vice President Sara Duterte has their share of ups and downs.Photos from Inday Sara Dutere FB page/Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines— Like any relationship, Sen. Imee Marcos said her friendship with Vice President Sara Duterte has their share of ups and downs.
They also get annoyed with each other because of what they said to each other in the past.
Marcos talked about her friendship with the Vice President after getting the latter’s endorsement of her bid for another term in the Senate this upcoming election.
READ: VP Duterte cites trust in Imee Marcos in Itim campaign
The senator made it clear that the endorsement was not a reward for initiating a Senate probe into the arrest of Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, but because of her longtime friendship with the Vice President.
“Oo hindi naman nagbabago. Kung minsan nayayamot na sya sa sinasabi ko e ako naman nagalit din sa kung minsan nagsasabi sya…” Sen.Imee Marcos said in a Zoom interview on Tuesday.
(Yes, nothing really changes. Sometimes she gets annoyed at what I say, and sometimes I get upset with the things she says.)
The senator recalled the time when the Vice President told her that she would dig up her father, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and throw him into the West Philippine Sea if the current administration continues its political attacks against her.
READ: Duterte: `I’ll throw Marcos Sr’s body into West PH Sea if attacks continue’
“Yung term na hukayin, naalala ninyo yun? Nagalit yung mga Ilocano dun. Nagalit din sa akin bakit hindi ako nag react violently,” she said.
(Remember the term ‘hukayin’? The Ilocanos were upset about that. People were also angry at me for not reacting violently.)
“Kaya sabi ko sa kanya (Duterte) ano ka ba ba’t mo sinasabi yang ganyan? Yung lang, yun lang naman,” she added.
(So I said to her (Duterte), ‘What’s wrong with you? Why are you saying things like that?’ That’s all—nothing more.)
It was during the Duterte administration when Marcos Sr. was allowed to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
READ: SC votes 9-5 for burial of Marcos at Libingan
Despite this, Sen. Marcos still felt responsible for asking the Vice President to run with her brother, now President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, in the 2022 elections.
“Parang sinisisi ko rin sarili ko na parang dinamay ko sya sa gulo,” the senator said.
(I kind of blame myself too, like I dragged her into the mess.)
“Nananahimik na sya, nag-file na sya bilang mayor ng Davao kinaladkad ko pa at sinabi ko sige mag VP ka. Hindi ko naman akalain kailanman na hahantong sa ganito. Grabe naman ito, hindi ko akalain talaga,” she added.
(She was already quiet, she had filed to run as mayor of Davao, and yet I dragged her back in and said, ‘Go ahead, run for VP.’ I never imagined it would come to this. This is just too much—I really didn’t see this coming.)
The senator has been vocal against the administration’s move to surrender the former president to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands to face the alleged crimes against humanity lodged against him and other former officials.
The case was in connection with the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs that left thousands of people killed.
NOTE: The English translations in the article were AI-generated
