President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he is against any move to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte from his post.
In an interview with reporters in Hawaii on Monday (Philippine time), the Chief Executive said he was aware of the ongoing efforts to oust Duterte.
“We are closely monitoring it because we don’t want her to be impeached. We don’t want her to [and] she does not deserve to be impeached. So, we will make sure that this is something that we will pay very close attention to,” Marcos said partly Filipino.
This after House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez denied reports of an ongoing move in the House of Representative to remove Duterte from her post amid the ongoing issue related to the confidential and intelligence funds of her office.
Marcos said he would not support such impeachment moves based on some “elements wanting to change the outcome of the elections.”
“That’s not a reason to be impeached,” the President stressed.
He also denied claims by some groups that there is already a “crack” in the UniTeam Alliance, which propelled their victory in the 2022 polls.
The UniTeam alliance is comprised of the following political parties: the President’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas; Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago; Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.
“These are the same people that talk about impeachment. They are the same people that talk that UniTeam is already disintegrating. That is not true. Just look at the political developments in the past few months,” Marcos said.
As early as May, Makabayan bloc lawmakers claimed there were already cracks in the UniTeam following the demotion former president now Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as senior deputy speaker.
Arroyo is a chairperson emeritus of the Lakas-CMD.
The claims were recently revived after Arroyo was removed from her position as deputy house speaker earlier this month after she did not sign a resolution upholding House’s “dignity, integrity and independence.” Macapagal-Arroyo later explained she was not able to sign the resolution because she was then on a foreign trip.
Despite the incident, Arroyo said she still support the administration of Marcos as well as the leadership of Romualdez.
