MANILA, Philippines — Accused of “deceiving” her former ally, Vice President Sara Duterte hurled her most scathing remarks against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday, October 18, at a press conference packed with comments on why she believes he has put the Philippines “on the road to hell.”
During the two-hour talk with the media, Duterte blamed Marcos for provoking her into talking about their fallout in detail when he said in an interview last week that was “deceived” into believing he was still “friends” with her.
The vice president spent a large chunk of the press conference describing her former running-mate as an incompetent president, who she had sensed was unfit for the position from the start of their 2022 campaign due to his lack of a clear platform.
“It’s not my fault that we are in this road to hell. It’s not my fault that he does not have the competence to lead. If you know you have shortcomings, you’d speed up your work to catch up,” Duterte said in mixed Filipino and English, adding that the president does not have a clear platform to address inflation and food security.
When they teamed up to run as a tandem in the 2022 polls, Duterte said she could not recall hearing Marcos discuss his specific plans once elected to the top post, including solutions to the Philippines’ food security and soaring inflation.
“I don’t remember him mentioning any platform detailing what he would do for this country. He didn’t specify what he would do about food security, inflation… We knew at that time that those issues were coming; they had already been forecasted,” she said, adding: “I don’t ever recall him discussing what he would do to address those problems.”
Duterte described how she would tune out and ignore his speeches during the campaign trail.
“I’m sorry, but when I was sitting there at that time, I wasn’t listening to him. All I heard was, ‘Sama sama tayong babangon muli (together we will rise),'” Duterte said.
“And when you say, ‘Sama sama tayong babangon muli,’ you want to know how the Philippines can be the best it can be… But apparently, many have been left behind now,” she said.
Duterte gave Marcos a score of one when asked to rate his performance on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest.
Saying she does not recognize Marcos as the president of the country, Duterte also accused him of not knowing how to be one.
Marcos did not respond to Duterte’s statements, with Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cesar Chavez telling reporters: “No statement from [the Office of the President]. Thanks.”
‘I wanted to cut off his head’
An incident Duterte narrated on Friday also confirmed that months before her resignation as Department of Education secretary, the vice president had been increasingly at odds with the president and his allies even as she was seen in public events with him.
Duterte recalled attending the graduation rites of a certain school alongside President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. where she said her temper flared after hearing Marcos’ response to a student’s unconventional request.
The vice president refused to identify the school but hinted that its graduates were expected to “give their life in defense of the country” and the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte and Marcos both attended the Philippine Military Academy’s graduation ceremony in May.
During the event, Duterte said one of the graduates had approached the president and said: “Mr. President, can I have your watch as a graduation gift?”
“You know, for me, there was some sort of inappropriateness in what the child did, so you should have an understanding of where the child is coming from. And your reaction or response should be such that the child will learn a lesson,” Duterte said.
“And I heard it—my companion heard it, and the person next to them heard it too—apparently, this guy [Marcos] didn’t know how to respond,” she recounted.
“So what Marcos did was ask the child, ‘What did you say?’ This time, of course, the child didn’t know what to do, so they repeated louder: ‘Mr. President, can I have your watch as a graduation gift?'” Duterte said.
The vice president said she felt troubled upon hearing Marcos tell the graduate: “Why? Why will I give you my watch?”
“At that point, I wasn’t feeling well. I was standing there with medication in hand, and I wanted to cut off his head,” Duterte said.
She added that the laughter from those around her only compounded the situation. “I saw the humiliation on the child’s face, and I wanted to help him—just to give him the Vice President’s watch. But I realized that would only make him more embarrassed, so I imagined cutting the heads off the people around me.”
This was the moment that Duterte said made her realize her relations with the president had become “toxic.”
“If you watch [a clip] of that graduation, you could see my face and his. I wanted to say, ‘That child would die for our country. That child would cut off a finger over your fiasco in the West Philippine Sea,'” she said.
‘Drag me to hell’
After months of trading barbs with Marcos’ allies in Congress, Duterte on Friday repeated her allegation anew that the administration was conspiring against her with the opposition.
The vice president has repeatedly said that members of the House of Representatives — dominated by Marcos’ allies — are preparing to file an impeachment complaint against her using audit findings of her use of confidential funds.
Duterte also told the media to tell Marcos on her behalf not to mention her name to prevent her from discussing her rift with him.
She added that starting today, the Office of the Vice President’s tagline is now “drag me to hell.”
“Tell him not to mention my name because if he does, it will bring up this ‘drag me to hell’ press conference all over again,” Duterte said.
“He could just keep quiet. Why does he need to say that he was fooled?” she added.
What was left out. At the press conference, Duterte did not discuss allegations of irregularities against the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, which House lawmakers pointed out during budget hearings and the ongoing House good government panel probe. Duterte also did not comment on new allegations of anomalous transactions at DepEd under her watch, which surfaced in yesterday’s House good government panel inquiry.
“I already mentioned that during the budget hearing. I’m the only one left here,” Duterte said.
“All the foreigners have joined together — don’t ask me about foreign policy — the NPAs, the smugglers, the drug addicts, the yellow liberals, and the administration. They’re all united now. I’m the only one left here,'” she said.
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