Marcos and Duterte’s bitter break-up portends major shake-up in Philippine politics

Attacks from both sides from grown more heated since the vice-president snubbed President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s State of the Nation Address

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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (R) and Vice President Sara Duterte attend an education-related event in Manila on Jan. 25. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 8:00am, 1 Aug 2024

A series of events stemming from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) look like the final nail in the coffin for his family’s partnership with the influential clan of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Observers said the so-called UniTeam alliance formed between Marcos and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio – the daughter of the former president – during the 2022 election has been completely dissolved, as evidenced by the latter’s decision not to attend the SONA on July 22.

“There is definitely no more UniTeam,” Maria Ela Atienza, a University of the Philippines political science professor, told This Week in Asia, adding that both the president and vice-president “can no longer diplomatically state that it is business as usual”.

While the feud between the two politically powerful families has been escalating for months, Marcos and Duterte-Carpio had been playing down the tensions in public.

Cut-outs of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (L) and Vice-President Sara Duterte (R) are displayed during a protest along a road leading to the Philippine Congress in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on July 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

“The SONA was a clear indicator that the Dutertes and their solid supporters have departed the coalition. But this is not really surprising, given the temporary nature of many alliances in Philippine politics,” Jan Robert Go, associate professor of the University of the Philippines’ political science department, told This Week in Asia.