Palace says Dutertes seeking to regain power

The word war between the Marcos administration and the Duterte camp raged on yesterday as Malacañang accused the former president and his allies of resorting to defamation to regain power.

- ALEXIS ROMERO

Reacting to former president Rodrigo Duterte's remarks that the impeachment of his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte was meant to bar her from running in the 2028 polls, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro pointed out that the erstwhile leader and his supporters have been maligning the government in their rallies.

"We can really see where they are heading to. We can see it in all of their rallies. We have seen them defaming the government and the President. So we know where they are going. They want to regain power, authority," Castro, who also serves as Palace press officer, told reporters yesterday.

Castro said President Marcos was not supportive of efforts to impeach Sara, but does not have control over the House of Representatives because of separation of powers.

"He won't interfere. He won't act whether it pushes through or not," she said.

Earlier this month, the administration-dominated House of Representatives impeached Sara for her alleged failure to properly account for the confidential funds given to her office and for her threat, if she is assassinated, to have Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez killed.

A total of 215 members of the chamber signed the complaint, which had already been transmitted to the Senate for trial.

In an earlier media interview this month, Marcos distanced himself from the impeachment but claimed that the House was just performing its mandate under the Constitution.

During an indignation rally in Mandaue City, Duterte said politics was behind the move to impeach his daughter and that efforts were being made to destroy her reputation before the 2028 elections. The elder Duterte also accused Marcos of "veering toward a dictatorship," claiming the President won't step down after his term expires in 2028.