THERE are no talks yet on a possible alliance between the administration and the opposition to counter the candidacy of Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2028 polls, Malacañang said Wednesday.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not talked about forming a coalition for the 2028 national elections.
“Right now, it hasn’t been discussed yet. We have a saying, and I’ve already mentioned it, the difference between a politician and a statesman. A politician thinks about the next election; a statesman thinks about the next generation,” Castro said during a press briefing.
Earlier, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the opposition would continue discussions on coalition-building and present an alternative platform for the 2028 national elections.
“We have free will, so let us use it,” Hontiveros said. “Forces that believe in good governance and accountability need to come together and talk.” The senator added that preparations would focus on organizing, strengthening grassroots networks and identifying leaders who can carry a reform-oriented agenda into 2028.
Hontiveros is among those whose names are being floated as the opposition’s standard-bearer in the 2028 presidential elections.
Malacañang previously said that it was premature to discuss proposals to form a new political alliance similar to the UniTeam that backed Marcos in the 2022 presidential elections.
This, after former senator Antonio Trillanes IV suggested that Marcos loyalists forge a coalition with the so-called Kakampinks of former vice president Leni Robredo to defeat the Dutertes in 2028.
Robredo, who served as the leader of the opposition, gunned for the presidency in the 2022 elections with Sen. Francis Pangilinan as her running mate.
They lost to the then UniTeam of Marcos and Duterte, who won via a historic landslide with the promise of unity to bring the country forward.
But this once formidable partnership collapsed last year due to supposed personal grievances, policy disagreements and political maneuvering.
In June 2024, Duterte stepped down as secretary of the Department of Education, leaving the Marcos Cabinet in a move that signaled a break in the alliance.
She later said the UniTeam was dead, as she and Marcos had already won the elections.
In October last year, Marcos said he could not help but feel “deceived” after Duterte said she was not friends with him despite them running together and winning the 2022 elections.
In response, the vice president said the Marcoses used her to win the elections.