Malacañang on Sunday dismissed former President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest claim that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is “veering towards a dictatorship.”

During an indignation rally in Mandaue City on Saturday, Duterte said it would not be surprising if Marcos followed in the footsteps of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and declared martial law to secure his position in 2028.

“Si Mr. Marcos is veering towards a dictatorship. Mopusta ko sa inyo, dili na monaug pagkahuman sa iyang termino. Pareha na sa iyang tatay. Magkagubot na pud ta because ang iyang buhaton mo-declare na pog Martial Law pareho sa iyang papa (Mr. Marcos is veering towards a dictatorship. I will place my bet, he will not step down when his term ends. He is like his father. Similar to his father, it will be chaos again when he declares martial law),” he said.

In response, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the Marcos administration was not taking Duterte’s remarks seriously.

“We treat the former president’s baseless and ridiculous statements in the same way that Filipinos are dismissive of them: a tall tale from a man prone to lying and to inventing hoaxes,” Bersamin said in a statement.

He described Duterte’s claim as another budol, a scam or attempt at manipulation.

“This hoax is another budol emerging from a one-man fake-news factory,” he said.

Bersamin asserted that the administration remains committed to upholding the Constitution and the rule of law.

“As our actions have consistently demonstrated, we will stay the course in upholding the Constitution, in adhering to the rule of law, and in respecting the rights of the people,” he said.

He also criticized Duterte’s administration, saying the current government “will not backslide into the oppressive ways of the previous administration.”

“When critics were jailed upon trumped-up charges and when kill orders were publicly issued with glee and obeyed blindly,” he added.

Bersamin further accused Duterte of hypocrisy, stating, “It is the leader of that troubled past who is depicting us as veering toward a system where anyone can be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, as many had been on his mere say-so as a tyrant who did not respect the rights of the people,”

In September 1972, Marcos Sr. declared martial law and remained in power until the EDSA People Power Revolution in February 1986, which forced him and his family to flee the country.