Vice President Sara Duterte said on Tuesday, June 25, that her friendship with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. remains intact despite her stepping down as the Department of Education secretary.
“Sa tingin ko magkaibigan pa rin kami ni President Bongbong Marcos,” Duterte told reporters during her visit for the Office of the Vice President’s Pride Reception in Cagayan de Oro.
“I am not discussing politics right now. Our priority is to identify the new secretary of the Department of Education,” Duterte added.
Asked who will be her successor in DepEd, Duterte said: “Let’s focus on that before we discuss other things.”
The Vice President is tendering her resignation from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as vice chairman and secretary for education.
Duterte personally handed her resignation letter to Marcos last June 19, and her resignation takes effect on July 19.
According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey findings, Duterte was the only top official to receive an “excellent” net satisfaction rating as of late 2022; by the end of 2023, this rating had somewhat decreased to “very good.”
Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque praised VP Sara for what he saw to be a moral stand and attribution to her strong satisfaction ratings, which position her to be the new face of the opposition.
Until she announces herself to be the opposition leader, Speaker Martin Romualdez said he will not acknowledge Duterte as such.
The Liberal Party, meantime, declared itself to be the “genuine opposition” but also said that Duterte might spearhead a “partisan opposition” to the Marcos Jr. administration. (TCSP)
