VIENTIANE, Laos — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said he was a “little dismayed” when Vice President Sara Duterte said that they had never been friends
Speaking to the Philippine media on the sidelines of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations Summit here, Marcos said he was unsure of his relationship with Duterte following her statement.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know anymore. I’m not quite sure, I understand. I’m a little dismayed to hear that she doesn’t think that we are friends. I always thought that we were. But maybe I was deceived,” Marcos said during a media interview.
Duterte said she would “never again” team up with the Marcoses following their falling out.
“Never again,” she said, when asked if she would ever consider joining forces with the Marcoses in future elections.
“We don’t really talk. First of all, we’re not friends. We just met when we became running mates. Before we became running mates, we weren’t talking,” Duterte said in Filipino.
She also thumbed down a possible mending of ties with the President adding they were not friends to begin with.
Duterte left the Marcos Cabinet in June after months of political tension between him and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president’s father.
Meanwhile, Marcos said he did not appoint Duterte as caretaker, while he was in Laos, since she was no longer part of the administration.
“She’s not part of the administration anymore. She’s still in government, but she left the administration. So, she’s not part of the administration anymore,” Marcos said.
“So, she’s not part of the day-to-day running of what we are doing. So, it would be unfair to ask her — to impose that duty on her since that’s not part of her work now,” he added.
Asked if it should be construed as a complete falling out, Marcos said, “No, it’s a very practical reason actually.”
“That’s how I came to that conclusion. If you noticed that the membership of the Executive Committee — are all part, now, they’re all members of the Cabinet, up to now. So, that would seem to be the obvious way to handle it,” he said.
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