Sara Duterte shuns First Lady Liza's 'personal feelings'; opts for 'private talk' with Marcos

Source: The Star

MANILA: Vice President Sara Duterte brushed aside First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos' "personal feelings" and chose to seek a "private talk" with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr regarding his wife's controversial interview.

For Duterte, Araneta-Marcos' sentiments about her have nothing to do with her work as vice president of the country.

On April 19, the first lady admitted that she was offended by Duterte, who attended a rally where the Vice President's father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, called Marcos "bangag", a slang term for a drug user.

"For us to move forward, we will leave the next steps to a private conversation just between me and President Marcos," Vice President Duterte said in a video posted on Facebook on Monday (April 22).

"Fellow countrymen, as a human being, it is the right of First Lady Liza Marcos to feel resentment and anger. But her personal feelings have nothing to do with my mandate as a government official," she also said.

Sara Duterte even said it would be better to focus on the country's problems, such as poverty, energy shortages, criminality and terrorism.

In an exclusive interview on Tune-in Kay Tunying, Araneta-Marcos admitted to snubbing the Vice President following her attendance at the controversial prayer rally organised by the Duterte family in their hometown Davao City in January.

For the first lady, the Vice President crossed the line when she laughed as her husband, President Marcos, was called a drug addict.

Araneta-Marcos said in the same interview that she was "always kind" to Sara Duterte, her husband's running mate in the 2022 presidential elections.

But now, "She's now in my bad graces," she said when asked if there was any hope of reconciliation between her and Sara Duterte. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN