VP Sara, Sen. Imee Marcos friendship "beyond politics"

The friendship between Vice President Sara Duterte and Senator Imee Marcos, which dates back to 2016, is “beyond politics.” It helped forge the then-Alyansa Digong at Bongbong (ALDUB) and later the now-defunct Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA), which united the so-called Solid North and Solid South during the 2022 presidential election, a Tribune source said on Friday.

The source told the DAILY TRIBUNE that Senator Imee served as a “bridge” between the Marcos and Duterte families. She was instrumental in convincing then-Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte to withdraw from the mayoralty race and run for vice president alongside her brother, now-President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The source added that no less than VP Sara herself acknowledged, in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, that her friendship with Senator Imee goes beyond politics. This came in response to a question about the Senate’s ongoing investigation into the arrest and transfer of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of crimes against humanity.

Supporters of then-Mayor Sara Duterte launched the Mayor Sara Duterte Alliance in 2021 to urge her to run for president, citing her high ratings in political surveys at the time.

MASADA even launched a nationwide caravan from Davao City to Pasay City to convince Duterte to run for president in the 2022 elections.

“In fact,” the source said, “the group organized a caravan from Davao City to Pasay City to persuade then-Mayor Sara to run for president in the last election.”

“With Senator Imee’s intercession, Inday Sara decided to run for vice president after former Senator Bongbong Marcos assured her during a meeting in Cebu City in November 2021 that the Marcos-Duterte alliance would continue the economic gains made during her father’s presidency.”

The source said Sara had already filed for re-election as Davao City mayor when she was convinced that the Marcos-Duterte alliance could help unify the country. “That’s when the so-called UniTeam and the Marcos Alliance was born,” the source said.

MASADA was renamed Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA) when Sara finally agreed to become Bongbong Marcos’s running mate.

The defunct MASADA has reportedly regrouped to urge Vice President Sara Duterte to run for president in the 2028 elections.

The source theorized that the ongoing Senate probe, initiated by Senator Imee—who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs—might help shield her brother and family from potential sanctions by the U.S. government in relation to the ICC’s arrest of former President Duterte.

“Since Justice Secretary Boying Remulla admitted under oath that he ordered the arrest and surrender of FPRRD to the ICC, accountability now lies with him. No direct order from the President has surfaced,” the source said.

The source added that the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury are reportedly compiling a list of individuals and companies to be sanctioned for violating the February 6 Executive Order of President Trump, which opposes cooperation with the ICC.

The source cited provisions of the Executive Order, which mandate that within 60 days, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, submit to the U.S. President a list of persons to be sanctioned under the order. It also prohibits any transaction intended to evade or violate the order.

The EO further states that any conspiracy to violate its provisions is prohibited. However, it allows exceptions for official business conducted by employees, grantees, or contractors of the U.S. federal government.

Sec. 8. For the purposes of this order:

(a) The term “person” means an individual or entity.

(b) The term “entity” means a government or instrumentality of such government, partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization.

(c) The term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including a foreign branch, subsidiary, or employee of such entity), or any person lawfully in the United States.

(d) The term “protected person” means:

(i) Any United States person, unless the United States provides formal consent to ICC jurisdiction over that person or becomes a state party to the Rome Statute, including:

(A) Current or former members of the Armed Forces of the United States;
(B) Current or former elected or appointed officials of the United States Government; and
(C) Any other person currently or formerly employed by or working on behalf of the United States Government.

(ii) Any foreign person who is a citizen or lawful resident of an ally of the United States that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction over that person or is not a state party to the Rome Statute, including:

(A) Current or former members of the armed forces of such ally of the United States;
(B) Current or former elected or appointed government officials of such ally; and
(C) Any other person currently or formerly employed by or working on behalf of such a government.

(e) The term “ally of the United States” means:
(i) A government of a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); or
(ii) A government designated as a “major non-NATO ally,” as defined by Section 2013(7) of the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 7432(7)).

(f) The term “immediate family member” means a spouse or child.

(g) The term “alien” has the meaning given to the term in Section 101(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(3)).

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is expected to release a list of individuals and companies suspected of violating the Executive Order by supporting the ICC’s actions targeting the U.S. and its allies.