Sara Duterte recalls confronting Marcos over impeachment, Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday narrated that she once confronted President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. over her impeachment.

Duterte spoke at an episode of “Ibalik ang Tapang at Malasakit,” an apparent online web series from her office and hosted by vloggers who are staunch supporters of the Duterte family, where she was asked about the issues she is facing, including her impeachment.

It was aired on Duterte’s social media pages late Friday afternoon.

One question raised about her was about the erstwhile “plan” for a charter change, which she claimed has “confirmation” that President Marcos was aware of the supposed plan by the lower house.

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Duterte said she found out about the supposed move by the Marcos administration to back charter change efforts when she confronted the President on one occasion in November 2023, or before he left for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in California.

A day before Marcos’ flight to the United States back then, Duterte said she first called the President’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, to accompany her, claiming she was “not friends” with the President despite running together in 2022.

“So I directly confronted BBM (the President’s initials). I asked him why there was an impeachment plan by the House of Representatives” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English, recalling her conversation with the President.

“Then he said that it was not true [and] there’s nothing like that.”

“Then he stopped with his denial because he became so talkative that there was a slip on his tongue that charter change was the priority,” she added.

By the time the President left for San Francisco, Duterte, who was still allied with the administration, was part of the party that sent off Marcos.

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Just before he boarded the presidential plane, Duterte said she was approached by the President and whispered to her: “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

“So I was shocked because it appeared that he was lying the night before [he left], that he does not know anything about the impeachment,” Duterte said, adding it was the “first time” for Marcos to say that he cared for her.

“We’ve been together for so long in the campaign and had to endure the scorching heat. But he never said to me that ‘I’ll take care of you,’” she said.

“Then all of a sudden, when I confronted you about the impeachment by the House of Representatives, you would whisper ‘I’ll take care of you.’” / gsg