The animosity between Vice President Sara Duterte and House Speaker Martin Romualdez seems to worsen, with Duterte pushing back at the claim that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s cousin helped convince her to run for the second highest elective post in 2022.
Duterte on Wednesday (June 7) said Romualdez “had absolutely nothing to do” with her decision to run for vice president.
“To say that he ‘tremendously helped in pushing for’ my Vice Presidential bid is acutely inaccurate — an insult to thousands of groups and individuals who incessantly implored me to reconsider an earlier decision not to join national politics,” she said in a statement, adding that it was Senator Imee Marcos who helped convince her to slide down as her brother’s running mate.
“[I]t was a decision sealed only after President Bongbong Marcos agreed to the conditions I set before running for VP,” Duterte said. “There was no Speaker Romualdez in the picture.”
The Vice President made the remark after Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. lauded Romualdez in a statement for taking the “moral high road” following “attacks” from Duterte, who bucked at the word used by the lawmaker.
“[A] person who cannot distinguish between attack and humor has no place in politics — especially if one fails to understand that political bickering is just a facet of democracy and should not be used to equate with governance,” she said.
Earlier this week, Duterte said she will no longer mention Marcos’ middle name when she thanked him at an event hosted by the Office of the Vice President for its partners.
“Hindi ko na banggitin ang middle initial niya… Mahal ko si apo BBM,” she said, referring to the Ilocano term of respect for an older person.
Marcos’ mother, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, is Romualdez’s aunt.
