Most of the 215 congressmen, including presidential son and Ilocos Norte Representative Sandro Marcos, were once part of the Alyansa Duterte Bongbong (Aldub) and the now-defunct Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance. These groups held rallies across the country to unite the so-called Solid North and Solid South, the alliance’s convenor said on Friday.
Benito Ranque, lead convenor of the now-defunct Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA), told DAILY TRIBUNE that presidential son and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos actively campaigned for Aldub in the 2016 elections for the Duterte-Marcos tandem, as well as for MASADA in the 2022 presidential elections.
He said most lawmakers, particularly in Mindanao, also took part in the “Run Sara Run” movement before the 2022 elections, which aimed to convince Sara Duterte to seek the presidency.
"It's ironic that those who urged the Mayor Sara Duterte to run for President are now the same people who signed the impeachment complaint against her,” Ranque recalled.
He said even Speaker Martin Romualdez joined the "Unity Caravan" of Marcos, who was running for vice president during the 2016 elections, and personally met with the Dutertes before the May 2016 polls.
Ranque previously declared that the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte is a “blessing in disguise” for the nine senatorial candidates of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), as shown in their recent campaign sorties in Cebu, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, and other parts of the country.
He noted that at least three PDP-Laban candidates—Senators Bong Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, along with former Senator Manny Pacquiao—are now in the “Magic 12” of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Go ranked highest, while Pacquiao and Dela Rosa placed between 9th and 12th.
Pacquiao was not included in PDP-Laban’s slate of nine Senate bets but was the former president of the party’s faction led by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III.
Ranque said most of the candidates currently ranking in the “Magic 12” supported the Marcos-Duterte alliance in the 2016 and 2022 elections, when then-Senator Bongbong Marcos and then-Mayor Sara Duterte ran as a tandem and secured a landslide victory with 31 million votes.
Although he acknowledged that the impeachment has officially sealed the breakup of the Marcos-Duterte alliance, he insisted that it is a “blessing in disguise” for PDP-Laban candidates, as seen in the massive crowds attending their rallies in Cebu, Bukidnon, and Misamis Occidental.
Ranque explained that MASADA, which originally stood for the Mayor Sara Duterte Alliance, was later renamed the Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance after she agreed to become Bongbong Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 election.
"We launched a nationwide campaign for the presidential candidacy of Davao City Mayor Sara, but later on, she decided to become the running mate of BBM. We set up at least 50 provincial and regional headquarters across the country to campaign for the Marcos-Duterte tandem in the presidential and vice-presidential elections in May 2022," Ranque said.
MASADA mirrored the 2016 presidential and vice-presidential elections when an informal alliance between supporters of President Duterte and former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was formed to secure Duterte’s presidency and Marcos’ vice-presidential bid.
Dubbed Alyansa ni Digong at Bongbong (Aldub), the movement helped ensure Duterte’s victory but failed to deliver a win for Marcos, who ran as an independent vice-presidential candidate.
During that time, Marcos launched a nationwide “Unity Caravan,” traveling from Batac, Ilocos Norte, to Davao City, the political stronghold of then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. His campaign slogan was “National Unity so that the country can move toward progress and development.”
By 2022, the Marcos-Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA) sought to unite the so-called Solid North and Solid South behind the Marcos-Duterte tandem. The movement aimed to strengthen political alliances across the country, rallying support for Bongbong Marcos as president and Sara Duterte as vice president.
However, the alliance that once symbolized political unity is now fractured following the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. Although President Marcos has publicly opposed the impeachment, his appeal appears to have been ignored, further highlighting the widening rift between former allies.