PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. brushed off the criticisms by Vice President Sara Duterte, stressing that he cannot force her to “love” him.
During her arraignment at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for her grave threat charges, Duterte accused the president of being a “drug addict, a shameless person, and ungrateful to those who went to the precinct to vote for him.” She also called on Marcos to resign.
Speaking to reporters following his attendance at the BRICS Summit in India, the president acknowledged that he is the target of the vice president’s ire, but refused to directly respond to her accusations.
“You know, I hear about them, but I don't really even have a response. 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,” he said.
“You cannot force anyone to love you,” he added.
Before Marcos left for India, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro questioned Duterte’s motive for urging the president to step down.
“And she wants to oust the president from office? Why? Do you want that? Does the vice president want to take over immediately? ” Castro said in Filipino.
She also wondered if Duterte was “in the right mind” when she made the accusations. “Was she in a lucid interval at that time? Was she in her right mind? Was she thinking clearly?” Castro said.
Responding to Duterte’s claim that the president was using drugs, Castro accused Duterte of being surrounded by people who use illegal drugs, most notably, her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“Former president Duterte himself admitted — while he was president — that he used marijuana. He also admitted to abusing fentanyl because he enjoyed the sensation; he described it as feeling like being on ‘cloud nine,’” Castro said.
