Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday called on Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to resign, turning the political rupture between the two families that swept to power together in 2022 into an open demand for the incumbent president to leave office.

Duterte made the call at a rally along the Elliptical Road in Quezon City, where she accused the Marcos administration of abusing its power and pursuing her allies and political opponents. 

“Resign, umalis ka dyan. Sinungaling ka, abusado ka, korap ka,” Duterte told a cheering crowd of her family's supporters.

“Tandaan ninyo patuloy tayong manawagan ng paglayas ng problema ng ating bayan na ang pangalan ay Bongbong Marcos,” she added.

Marcos and Duterte ran together under the UniTeam banner, combining two of the country's most powerful political dynasties after Sara, then mayor of Davao City and daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, joined the son of the late dictator's presidential campaign.

Their partnership combined the political machinery of the Marcos and Duterte camps and helped Marcos win the presidency with nearly 59% of the vote.

After taking office in June 2022, Duterte also served as Marcos' education secretary, giving the administration a powerful political partnership at the highest levels of government.

But the alliance deteriorated over the following two years. Duterte resigned as education secretary, as tensions between the two political camps increasingly became public. 

The rupture became especially stark later in 2024. Duterte said she and Marcos had never been friends and were merely running mates in the 2022 election. Marcos responded that he felt “deceived” about their supposed friendship.

The split deepened as former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara Duterte's father, became increasingly critical of Marcos. Policy differences, including Marcos' shift toward closer security ties with the United States and away from Rodrigo's China-friendly approach, also widened the divide.

By Friday, Duterte was no longer calling merely for a political break. She was openly demanding that Marcos leave the presidency.

Duterte also accused the administration of using government institutions to pursue her allies and political opponents, and attacked Marcos over allegations of corruption and the government's handling of the country's problems.

“Ang pagpapa-resign sa isang adik ay tuloy-tuloy hanggang pumasok sa sira niyang utak. Na siya ang problema ng bayan,” Duterte said.

Impeachment fight

The feud has since moved beyond political rhetoric. Duterte is currently on trial before the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, after the House of Representatives impeached her in May.

“The real drama is the filing of an impeachment without evidence,” she said, accusing Congress of being used to search for evidence against her and her allies.

“Almost all of our senators have been consumed just to fulfill their desire for impeachment,” Duterte added.

Duterte sought to stop the impeachment through the Supreme Court before the case reached the Senate.

However, in August, the SC junked the petition, ruling that the challenges had become moot because the Articles of Impeachment had already been transmitted to the Senate and the impeachment court had begun proceedings.

A conviction in the Senate would require the votes of at least two-thirds of the 24-member chamber and could remove Duterte from office and bar her from holding public office, potentially affecting her political ambitions for the 2028 presidential election.###