Philippines’ Marcos Says Alliance With VP Duterte Remains Intact

(Bloomberg) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his alliance with Vice President Sara Duterte remains intact, dismissing speculation that the coalition is fraying amid local media reports that some lawmakers may move to oust his deputy.

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Marcos said in a media briefing while on a trip in Hawaii on Sunday that he has an “excellent relationship” with Duterte, and he wants her to remain as his vice president, according to a statement from his communication’s office released Monday in Manila. He also said the coalition is getting bigger and stronger.

“We don’t want her to be impeached. She does not deserve to be impeached,” the president said of Duterte. An opposition lawmaker last week said there were informal talks at the House of Representatives to start proceedings for the vice president’s ouster, but added that it’s premature and the chamber’s leaders aren’t involved, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

The alliance of Marcos and Duterte, the daughter of the country’s former leader, helped both of them secure landslide wins in the May 2022 election. In the past months, however, the vice president has been distancing herself from Marcos’ cousin and key ally, House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Duterte has also drawn public scrutiny over her request for 650 million pesos ($11.7 million) in confidential funds for 2024, and questions over how she had spent similar opaque funds in the past. The Romualdez-led House earlier moved to transfer the VP’s secret funds to agencies involved in defending the country’s claims in the South China Sea, with Duterte dropping her request for such allocations earlier this month.

Duterte, for her part, said over the weekend that her relationship with Marcos remains okay, and that she retains the president’s trust, according to an Inquirer report.

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