“[Vice President Sara Duterte] had the idea, then set an example.”

House Deputy Speaker Rep. Paolo Ortega urged Vice President Sara Duterte to take the first step in resigning from her position amid the latter’s renewed calls for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step down from his post.

The lawmaker asserted that Duterte should refrain from assuming that she could dictate the actions of everyone in the country, noting how a Marcos resignation would be “convenient” for the Vice President.

“It’s irresponsible to say something like that. Of course, if the president did resign, who would benefit? Right?” he stressed.

The statements that Ortega was responding to came from a rally that was held last Friday, 11 September, where the Vice President spoke to her supporters after her arraignment for three counts of grave threats at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court was deferred.

There, Duterte called out Marcos for persecuting her allies and opponents of the current administration, detailing how it was the President that was the real problem that was “plaguing” the nation.

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

Ortega, for his part, expressed that a resignation may benefit the Vice President more than the executive chief as Duterte was supposedly facing a variety of problems.

“Why doesn’t she resign because she’s the one that thought about President BBM resigning?” he stressed.

Marcos and Duterte, formerly allies under the UniTeam banner, have become stern political adversaries, with the rift being publicly disclosed in 2024.

In the criminal case currently facing the Vice President, she was charged for grave threats over her utterances during an online interview directed at the President, first lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Notably, the same remarks were also used as a basis for one of the Articles of Impeachment in the ongoing impeachment trial against her at the Senate.