Sara camp hits Marcos over ‘you cannot force anyone to love you’ remark

Vice President Sara Duterte’s spokesperson Atty. Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr. on Monday accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of being “out of touch with reality” after the president brushed off Duterte’s attacks against his administration as anger directed at him personally.

Marcos, asked about Duterte’s recent remarks calling for his resignation, said he had little response because the vice president was apparently angry and he was the “main target” of that anger.

“What can I do? You cannot force anyone to love you,” Marcos told reporters on Sunday.

Panelo said the president had trivialized Duterte’s accusations of corruption and abuses in government by reducing them to a personal dispute.

“The fact that President Marcos trivialized Vice President Sara Duterte’s serious accusations of historic corruption and grave abuses in government as the product of her ‘personal’ anger toward him … only prove that he is out of touch with reality and not fit for office,” Panelo said in a statement.

“The country does not need his excuses. It needs his resignation,” he added.

Duterte made the resignation call at a rally in Quezon City on Friday, urging Marcos to leave office amid growing criticism over alleged corruption in government, particularly the controversy surrounding flood-control spending.

“Resign, umalis ka dyan. Sinungaling ka, abusado ka, korap ka,” Duterte addressed the cheering crowd.

“Remember, we will continue to call for the removal of the problem plaguing our country, and that problem is Bongbong Marcos,” she added.

The Palace has yet to respond as of press time.