A day after an impeachment complaint was filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin seemingly distanced President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. from the issue, saying that the Office of the President “has nothing to do with it.”
According to Bersamin, the filing of the complaint in the House of Representatives (HOR) is an “independent initiative.”
“The impeachment complaint filed in the House of Representatives by several private citizens is clearly the complainants’ independent initiative,” he said.
“Its endorsement [is] the prerogative of any Member of the House of Representatives. The Office of the President has nothing to do with it. The President’s earlier statement on the matter is unambiguous,” he added.
Earlier, Duterte accused Marcos of planning to remove her from office.
Recently, a text message from “BBM” was leaked, urging the lower chamber not to pursue impeachment charges against the Vice President. Marcos later confirmed he sent the message, saying that filing an impeachment complaint at this time only distracts “from the real work of governance, which is to improve the lot of all Filipinos.”
“That’s really my opinion. This is not important,” Marcos said. “This does not make any difference to even one single Filipino life. So, why waste time on this?”
He noted that impeachment would just take up time in the House and the Senate.
“None of this will help improve a single Filipino life. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a storm in a teacup,” he stressed.
Prior to this, Duterte has been facing issues regarding the alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, the agency she previously headed.
Adding to the Vice President’s stress, her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was detained in the HOR after being cited for contempt over evasive answers during the House committee’s investigation into CIF.
The committee later ordered Lopez’s transfer to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City, which further angered Duterte and led to a profanity-laced midnight tirade against Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
During the midnight conference, Duterte remarked that if alleged plots against her succeed, she would have the First Couple and the House leader assassinated—“no joke.”
Malacañang Palace took this as an “active threat” and referred the matter to the Presidential Security Command, which is responsible for the First Family’s safety.
Duterte later clarified that her statements were taken out of logical context.
Amid the increased tension between the two leaders, Marcos remains open to the possibility of reconciliation with Duterte.
Marcos and Duterte were running mates in the 2022 elections under the UniTeam banner and scored a landslide victory.