Marcos’ Sister Flags Support for Duterte Ahead of Senate Trial

Imee Marcos Photographer: Iya Forbes/Bloomberg Photo by Iya Forbes /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Senators seeking to lock impeached Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte out of politics for good may face an uphill battle with one of her staunchest supporters calling the movement against her family “insane and wicked.”

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Senator Imee Marcos, the older sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said it was a “tragedy” that her own family had been given a second chance and “instead of grabbing it and leveraging it into great development and prosperity for the Filipino people, we’ve just wasted it.” 

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“It’s been wasted on this insane and wicked campaign against the Dutertes,” she said in an interview from her family’s ancestral home in Manila on Wednesday, as a painting of her mother Imelda and late dictator father Ferdinand Marcos hung behind her. “Stagflation is around the corner. It’s a very scary moment for Filipinos.”

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Marcos, who said she has a “non-existent” relationship with her brother and last spoke with him at her son’s birthday three years ago, is among 13 lawmakers from the 24-member chamber allied with the vice president. Duterte will be tried in the Senate in a trial that’s set to start in July. 

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Given the two-thirds hurdle needed for a conviction, she’s likely to be acquitted by the upper chamber after being impeached for a second time in the lower house. But if she were convicted, the mandatory penalty would be removal from office and permanent disqualification from politics.

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Marcos, 70, said she would prefer that only evidence pertinent to the case be presented and hopes everything can wrap up by September.

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While she vowed to be an impartial judge, she said she believes that Duterte, who’s locked in a bitter feud with her younger brother, would make a good leader if she wins the 2028 election, for which she’s the frontrunner. 

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“I have great confidence in Sara,” she said. “She has manifested great executive ability and compassion.”

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The action in the Philippine Senate has gripped the nation, with a power grab earlier this month leading to a dramatic evening shootout that deepened the divide between those who support Duterte and those who do not. On Tuesday, senators in the minority bloc walked out of a plenary session after a heated discussion with colleagues who were pushing a plan to allow some senators to participate remotely. 

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The dispute can be traced back to a huge falling out between the President and his deputy when their relationship collapsed over policy differences following the duo’s landslide win on a joint ticket in the 2022 election. The latest escalating tensions come at a particularly bad time, with the Philippine economy expanding at one of the slowest paces in Southeast Asia and inflation at a three-year high due to the energy shock from the Iran war.

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Marcos declined to speculate on whether Duterte, who is accused of misusing public funds and threatening to assassinate the President, would be acquitted or convicted.