Malacañang on Wednesday firmly denied President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is pushing for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, saying he has no hand in the proceedings and is not seeking her removal from office.

“There is absolutely no truth to reports the President is pursuing the impeachment of VP Sara,” said Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro in a press briefing. “We strongly deny and reject that claim.”

Castro also dismissed suggestions the administration is confident Duterte will be ousted by the Senate.

“There is no talk whatsoever about being certain she’ll be removed from office. That kind of speculation is simply not true,” she said.

The statement comes amid the rising political tension between Marcos and Duterte, who were once election allies but are now on opposite sides of an increasingly bitter divide.

The two ran as a tandem and won by a landslide in the 2022 elections, but their alliance unraveled in 2024 after Duterte resigned from her post as education secretary, officially cutting her ties with the Marcos Cabinet.

The rift worsened following the House of Representatives’ impeachment of Duterte on 5 February 2025. She was accused of misusing confidential and intelligence funds, committing acts of corruption, betraying public trust, and making threats against the First Couple and the House Speaker.

The Articles of Impeachment were transmitted to the Senate shortly after, and Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has since laid out a timeline for the proceedings. If all goes according to plan, the Senate will reconvene on 2 June to formally receive and discuss the charges, with the actual trial expected to begin on 30 July.

Adding to the already tense situation was the arrest in March of Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. The former leader was taken into custody in cooperation with Interpol and now faces trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity related to his deadly war on drugs.

Vice President Duterte has publicly blamed Marcos for allowing the ICC to come into the country, accusing him of betraying her father and the nation. She said the Philippines was no longer under the jurisdiction of the ICC following the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.

Marcos, however, denied any role in Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest. He maintained that the government acted within the bounds of Philippine law and its international obligations.

Despite the political drama, Malacañang has insisted the President is focused on governance and that any political maneuverings related to the impeachment was not being driven by the executive branch.