Metro Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. brushed aside Vice President Sara Duterte’s latest attacks against him, saying she may be directing her anger over her legal and political troubles at him.
Marcos was asked during an interview with reporters on Saturday, Sept. 12, about Duterte’s increasingly sharp criticism of his administration as she faces an impeachment trial and a grave threats case before a Quezon City court.
“You know, I hear about them, but I don’t really even have a response,” Marcos said.
“If she feels very angry, I suppose, with what’s happening to her. And I am the target of that anger, or the main target of that anger. What can I do? You cannot force anyone to love you,” he added, drawing laughter from reporters.
Duterte has stepped up her attacks against Marcos as she battles an impeachment case before the Senate and criminal charges stemming from threats she made against the president, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then Speaker Martin Romualdez.
In a speech on Sept. 11, the vice president again called for Marcos to resign and accused his administration of using cases to silence her and her allies. She is the first in the line of succession.
She also revived allegations that Marcos is a drug user, without presenting evidence, and accused the president of corruption and abuse of power.
Marcos has repeatedly denied allegations of illegal drug use.
The vice president is facing three counts of grave threats before a Quezon City court over her November 2024 remarks that she had instructed someone to kill Marcos, the first lady and Romualdez if she herself were killed.
Duterte has also accused the Marcos administration of orchestrating the cases against her.
Marcos and Duterte ran together under the UniTeam banner in the 2022 elections on a campaign centered on unity, but their political alliance later collapsed as tensions between the Marcos and Duterte camps deepened.
Despite Duterte’s increasingly personal attacks, Marcos gave no indication that he intended to respond in kind.
“What can I do?” he said. “You cannot force anyone to love you.”
