On November 23rd, Sarah Duterte, the daughter of former Philippine President Duterte and current Vice President, publicly stated that if she was killed, assassins would seek revenge against President Marcos and his wife, as well as Marcos’ cousin and current Speaker of the House.

Sarah’s remarks were like a bombshell, shocking the public opinion both domestically and internationally in the Philippines.

Today, the author will talk about the intricate web of grudges and relationships between the two major political families in the Philippines.
Political alliance, win the election.
Currently, the two largest political families in the Philippines are the Marcos family and the Duterte family. These two families have great influence in the Philippine political arena.
Looking back at the 2022 Philippine election, influenced by various factors, Sarah, who is expected to win the presidency, chose to run alongside Marcos.
In the end, Marcos became the President of the Philippines, while Sarah became the Vice President.

The once notorious Marcos dynasty has also made a comeback thanks to Duterte’s extensive network and popular base.
Divergence intensifies and turns into enmity.
During the tenure of former President Duterte and the early years of Marcos’ rule, the relationship between the two families was relatively harmonious. As Marcos gradually consolidated his ruling position, his true intentions began to emerge.
The storm of constitutional amendment has begun to crack.
Marcos’ “New Philippines Movement” aimed to change the Philippines from a presidential system to a parliamentary system and extend his term in office.
This has had a negative impact on Sarah, who is running for the next president, and has sparked strong dissatisfaction among the Duterte family.
There has been a serious disagreement between the two sides on this issue, and contradictions have begun to emerge.
Drug control investigation intensifies conflicts.
In the early stages of his administration, Marcos held a non cooperative attitude towards the International Criminal Court’s investigation into Duterte’s “war on drugs” during his presidency. However, Marcos agreed to the intervention of the International Criminal Court this year.
Marcos recently stated that if requested by the International Criminal Court, he is willing to consider transferring former President Duterte.
This move is seen by the Duterte family as a provocation and suppression of their political legacy, and the relationship between the two sides has become even more tense.
Political differences are escalating.
In April of this year, when Marcos visited the United States, he did not appoint Vice President Sarah to act as president as usual, but instead appointed three “government guards”, including Sarah, in an unusual manner.
On June 19th, Sarah publicly announced her resignation from her positions as Minister of Education and Vice Chairman of the Counter insurgency Working Group, completely withdrawing from President Marcos’ cabinet, but retaining the elected position of “Vice President”.

However, someone found a clear visible bloodstain on Sarah’s neck. Sarah claimed that she recently suffered a ‘fatal blow’.

From October 8th to 11th, Marcos did not appoint Sarah as a “government caretaker” while attending a series of ASEAN meetings in Laos. Marcos explained that Vice President Sarah is no longer a member of his government and therefore is not suitable to stay at home.
On October 18th, Sarah openly declared that Marcos “doesn’t know how to be president”, which is also her “strongest criticism” of Marcos so far.
Sarah also publicly stated that she has a “list of crimes” sufficient to impeach Marcos.
Analysis suggests that Marcos remained silent on Sarah’s accusations because he was afraid of the “crime list” in Sarah’s hand. After all, once impeached successfully, Marcos will miss out on the presidency.
Political ‘earthquake’, the mastermind behind it.

In this struggle in the Philippines, there has always been an invisible hand pushing forward, and that is the United States.
After taking office, Marcos adopted a pro American and anti China foreign policy, which contradicted the pragmatic diplomatic approach of the Duterte family.
The true independence of the Philippines began with the expulsion of the US military.
However, now Marcos has welcomed back the US military and actively cooperated with the US containment policy towards China, willingly serving as a pawn for the US.
The outcome of this approach is to make the Philippines once again a puppet of the United States.
Getting rid of the United States is not an easy task. Marcos destroyed the efforts of his predecessors in less than two years.
There is a question mark over how long Marcos can continue to be a president who engages in political struggles domestically, suppresses opponents crazily, dances with the United States externally, and repeatedly provokes China on the South China Sea issue.