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Raissa Robles

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has officially resigned from her positions in the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, ending months of speculation about the state of their fraying political alliance.
After months of increasingly combative interactions between their two politically powerful clans, analysts say her resignations signal that the family of former president Rodrigo Duterte is ready to “go all out” in its political feud with the Marcos family.
Duterte-Carpio’s resignations from her positions as secretary of the Department of Education and vice-chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict were announced in a brief statement issued by the presidential palace on Wednesday.
The statement simply said, “She declined to give a reason why. She will continue to serve as Vice-President.”

Following the palace statement, Duterte-Carpio held a press conference where she extolled her accomplishments as education secretary – such as improving the basic education infrastructure, launching a new curriculum, and improving teachers’ welfare – but gave no specific reason for stepping down from her roles.
“My countrymen, my resignation is not due to weak resolve, but it is brought on by my genuine care for teachers and the Filipino youth,” she said.
Her departure from the cabinet came a week after she told reporters inquiring about her no-show at various palace functions, “We are not candidates any more.”
She explained that the “Bongbong-Sara Uniteam”, as they called themselves when they campaigned in the 2022 presidential election, was only a political “tandem” to get both elected.
It also occurred two months after the president’s wife, first lady Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, said she had purposely snubbed Duterte-Carpio during a send-off for a foreign trip by cabinet officials because the latter had “crossed the line” by laughing during a rally when former president Duterte called Marcos Jnr a drug addict.


Analysts told This Week in Asia that both Marcos Jnr and Duterte-Carpio had long politically separated and this merely formalised it.
“This was long overdue,” former congressman Barry Gutierrez told This Week in Asia on Wednesday.
“When her father, brothers, and allies started attacking the administration at the start of the year, it was clear that the alliance had collapsed,” said Gutierrez, who was spokesman for former vice-president Leni Robredo.
“But she held on for the advantage of heading an executive department,” he added, referring to Duterte-Carpio’s positions as vice-president and education secretary that meant she had access to billions of pesos in funding.
Political risk analyst Ronald Llamas said the split was “long overdue”.
“I have been saying that for one year. She just formalised her untenable and unsustainable situation,” he said.
“Maybe she realised, although belatedly, that being in the official family of the president while all her political allies and family [members] are throwing everything at the government and the president – even the kitchen sink – that this is costing her more than it’s benefiting her.”
Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the resignation was “about time”, noting that “a more principled public servant would have done it earlier”.

Duterte-Carpio’s resignation marks a political turning point for the Marcos Jnr government – one that analysts say is not wholly in his favour.
“The fact that she’s leaving now means they [the Duterte family] have something else lined up,” Llamas said.
Trillanes agreed, telling This Week in Asia that the Dutertes “will oust BBM [Marcos Jnr’s initials] whenever they get a chance”.
As the vice-president, Duterte-Carpio is next in the succession line if the presidency becomes vacant. Should this happen after June 30, Llamas had said in an earlier interview with This Week in Asia that Duterte-Carpio could serve the rest of Marcos Jnr’s unfinished term and then run for a new six-year term as president come 2028.
Gutierrez said her departure from his cabinet would in a sense make governing for Marcos Jnr more difficult. “You can now expect the Dutertes to go all out against him. No more pretence at ‘unity’.”
“It also puts Marcos Jnr in a position where he has to decide if he will likewise pull no punches against the Dutertes. He is the president, he has more moves, the ICC [International Criminal Court] case being one of the strongest,” Gutierrez added.
He was referring to the alleged crimes against humanity case filed against the elder Duterte over his vicious drug war which killed thousands of drug suspects, as well as innocent bystanders.
“It certainly puts the Dutertes in a spot where an extra constitutional option becomes a more enticing option for them,” Llamas said, but noted that there must first be a vacancy for a succession battle to happen.

Asked if Duterte-Carpio could become the leader of the political opposition after quitting the cabinet, Trillanes said, “She would be the de facto opposition leader by virtue of her relatively stronger political base. But [Akabayan party] Senator Risa Hontiveros would like to remain as an independent opposition leader.”
Gutierrez noted, however, that Duterte-Carpio could “become a third pole in the political landscape”, but that would depend on how effectively she could garner support, given the midterm elections next year and whether she manages to emerge from her father’s political shadow.
Since 1986, the Philippines has followed a multiparty system that allows parties to either align themselves with the administration or ruling party, or be part of the opposition.
The political opposition currently has two leaders in the Senate: Senator Hontiveros of Akbayan and former Senate president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III of the original PDP-Laban Party.
Hontiveros’ Akbayan issued a statement welcoming Duterte-Carpio’s resignation as “long overdue”, noting that the vice-president’s tenure as education secretary “has been marred by massive controversies” that the party said diverted attention from improving the country’s education system.


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The Philippines

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte quits Marcos Jnr’s cabinet in further sign of rift

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio during an event in Manila in January. Photo: AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice-President Sara Duterte during the inauguration ceremony on June 30, 2022 in Manila, where Marcos Jnr was sworn in as the country’s 17th president. Photo: AP

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and his daughter Sara Duterte arrive for the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 in Boao, south China’s Hainan province in April 2018. Photo: AFP

Senator Risa Hontiveros at a senate hearing in January. Photo: Facebook/hontiverosrisa

Marcos-Duterte feud: in Liza vs Sara war of words, all eyes on who will be Philippines’ next president

A composite image shows Philippine First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos (left) and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. Their quarrel started innocuously enough: with a laugh. Photos: AFP

Sara Duterte-Caprio pictured with her father, then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, as they arrive for a conference in China in 2018. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his wife pictured on a state visit to Indonesia in September 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

Congressman Sandro Marcos (second from left) accompanies his mother and father as they arrive at the Malacanang presidential palace in June 2022 following the presidential inauguration ceremony. Photo: AFP

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pictured last year. Her midterm defeat in 2007 threw her succession plans into disarray. Photo: Xinhua

Rodrigo Duterte meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last year. Observers expect Manila to pivot back towards China if the Duterte clan were to retake the Philippine presidency. Photo: Xinhua via AP

As Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte fires back at first lady Liza Marcos, will family tensions soar further?

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte speaks at a rally in Manila in January. Photo: AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr with his wife in Washington. Photo: AFP

Philippines’ first lady Liza Marcos breaks 2-year silence on ties with vice-president Sara Duterte: ‘I felt hurt’

First lady Louise Araneta-Marcos chats during the presidential proclamation at the House of Representatives. In an interview, the first lady says she was “always kind to [the vice-president]” but the vice-president was “now a bad shot with me”. Photo: AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice-President Sara Duterte. Photo: Kyodo

Will Sara Duterte’s Beijing-friendly remarks blunt the Philippines’ South China Sea policy?

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and then-presidential running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio on May 7, 2022. Photo: AP

Then vice-president-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio and then President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr during Duterte-Carpio’s inauguration ceremony in Davao City, Philippines, on June 19, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

The Philippines’ former first lady Imelda Marcos (right) with her nephew legislator Martin Romualdez (centre) and Lisa Araneta-Marcos (left), wife of then president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, in Quezon City last year. Photo: AFP

Chinese coastguard ships at the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal during a maritime surveillance flight by a Philippine agency over the South China Sea on September 28. Photo: AFP

Should Philippines’ Marcos be ‘on guard’ as Sara Duterte is sworn in early, meets China envoy?

Philippine VP-elect Sara Duterte at her inauguration ceremony in Davao City.  Photo: EPA-EFE/Presidential Photographers Division

Philippines VP-elect Sara Duterte and President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr at her inauguration ceremony in Davao City on June 19, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/PPD

Sara Duterte and her father, outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: AP

This Week in Asia

Politics

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Asia

Southeast Asia

Analysts say the move is ‘long overdue’ and signals that the Duterte family is ready to ‘go all out’ in its feud with Marcos Jnr


Analysts say the move is ‘long overdue’ and signals that the Duterte family is ready to ‘go all out’ in its feud with Marcos Jnr.


Rodrigo Duterte

International Criminal Court

Ferdinand Marcos, Jnr