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Are the Philippines’ Marcos and Duterte families set to ‘break up’ over South China Sea and other rows?
- President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has expressed outrage over a ‘secret agreement’ on the South China Sea that threatens the Philippines’ sovereignty
- His choice of three caretakers while he was away in the US signals his ‘eroded trust’ in VP Sara Duterte-Carpio, a political veteran says
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Ties between Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte could be at rock bottom as differences over caretaker appointments and side dealings with Beijing to manage the South China Sea row threaten to “break up” the country’s two foremost political families.
Before flying to Washington on Wednesday for a trilateral summit between the Philippines, the US and Japan, Marcos Jnr designated three caretakers to carry out presidential duties instead of just Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio as he had done so in his previous 25 foreign trips since he assumed office in July 2022.
His decision was relayed by Presidential Communications Office Chief Secretary Cheloy Garafil to reporters via text message, in which Duterte-Carpio was listed as “chair” caretaker and “assisted” by presidential Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III.
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Marcos Jnr, meanwhile, expressed outrage at what he claimed was “a secret agreement” between the vice-president’s father and China over the West Philippine Sea.
Denying any knowledge of the matter, Marcos Jnr told reporters in an interview on Wednesday: “I am horrified by the idea that we have compromised in – through a secret agreement, the territory, the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the Philippines.
“We don’t know, it was a secret agreement. We don’t know anything about it. There is no documentation, no record.”
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