VP Sara: Marcos broke promise a month into term

Vice President Sara Duterte revealed that one of the two requests she made to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before agreeing to run as his vice president in 2022 was not fulfilled within a month of his administration's term. This marks the earliest grievance she has dated in their feud. Duterte shared this in The Hague on Monday, July 27, after Marcos delivered his fifth and penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA). Speaking to a crowd of supporters, she dismissed the speech as worthless and urged them not to believe any promises made by the president. "I only asked for two things. When I agreed to run, in tandem with him, as his vice president, he didn't fulfill one of my requests in just a month. It hadn't even been a year," Duterte said in Filipino. She did not specify what the second request was but implied it was related to her need to be constantly near her children because they are still young. The Marcos-Duterte tandem won the 2022 election in a landslide, uniting two of the country's most powerful political dynasties. However, their alliance collapsed within two years, with Duterte quitting the Cabinet in June 2024. She has since accused Marcos of persecuting her family. Before the elections in January 2022, Marcos had said Duterte told him she wanted the defense portfolio, an idea he initially liked. However, two days after the election, he announced her appointment as education secretary. Ignoring the SONA Duterte told the crowd of Filipinos that she did not watch the president's SONA and had no intention of reading "not even a summary of it." Her disclosure of her grievances with Marcos came after he opened his address by announcing that the Ombudsman was close to filing multiple cases against Speaker Martin Romualdez, his cousin. "Don't expect the former speaker or members of the House of Representatives to go to jail," she said. Regarding Marcos' failure to keep his campaign promise to her, Duterte added: "Let's say that's personal. That's something that can be unfulfilled. Okay, fine. Then let's talk about the 20 [pesos per kilo] rice. Was it fulfilled or not?" she asked. "Someone will be jailed before Christmas. Was it fulfilled or not? So why do you still believe and watch the SONA?" Duterte argued that Marcos' "mahiya naman kayo" (have some shame) line from last year's address was a public relations stunt that backfired. In his address, Marcos recalled that a first wave of contractors, senior public works officials, and lawmakers had already been charged and jailed. Senator Jinggoy Estrada was arrested in June and is detained on a non-bailable plunder charge over alleged kickbacks. Former Senator Bong Revilla Jr. and former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan have also been charged. Contractor Sarah Discaya and a regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways are in custody awaiting trial. Zaldy Co, the former House appropriations chair who has been charged with malversation of public funds, graft, and plunder, is currently a fugitive overseas and has yet to be located by authorities. Source: Philstar Nation