DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 February) – Senator Imee Marcos declared she and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte are on good terms now, after the latter called out the elder sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for supposedly misinterpreting his apology to her.
“Nagkausap na kami, Ok na (We’ve talked, it’s all right now),” Marcos said to Manila reporters Sunday evening, which she also posted on her Facebook page.
The senator made the statement following Duterte’s remarks against her, where the mayor denied apologizing to Marcos Jr. over his call for the President’s resignation due to “laziness and lack of compassion.”
The elder Marcos said she would not provide further details about their conversation, as it might be misinterpreted and cause further conflict.
In an earlier statement, she said Duterte apologized to her for his remarks about the President.
“Naiintindihan ko naman kasi siyempre sobrang emosyonal siya dahil isipin mo naman ikukulong ‘yung tatay mo at saka ‘yung ate mo. Talaga namang magrerebolusyon ‘yung iyong damdamin (I understand because he’s so emotional, imagine your father and sister being imprisoned. Your emotions would really flare up),” she said.
The senator was alluding to the possibility of former President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte going to prison for alleged crimes against humanity related to the “war on drugs” under the former administration and earlier.
Aside from the former President, Arturo Lascañas, a former police officer in Davao City and self-confessed hitman and Davao Death Squad member, has tagged the Vice President as having a hand in the killings of suspected criminals as vice mayor and later mayor of the city.
Days after the senator’s statement, the mayor called her out on Facebook late Saturday night: “Humingi ako ng tawad dahil naawa ako sayo, hindi dahil sa mga sinabi ko tungkol sa kapatid mo na presidente. Undangi kog gamit ana imong mga jamming. Gipa lampas na taka kausa pero banha gihapon kayka (I apologized because I felt sorry for you, not because of what I said about your brother, the President. Spare me from your dramas. I have already let it pass once, but it seems you are still making noises)”.
The mayor dared the President to resign during the speech at the Hakbang ng Maisug campaign last January 28, but jokingly added that with his remarks, he “might seek asylum and go to Indonesia.”
He also urged Dabawenyos to oppose the people’s initiative, which he together with his father Rodrigo Duterte and his allies said was masterminded by the President, his wife Liza Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The mayor said the politicians’ “hunger for power” drove some of them to amend the 1987 Constitution so that they would stay in power.
“From now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs, think of Benito Mussolini and his wife, think of what happened to you in 1986. Maybe you will reconsider the direction that you are taking,” Duterte told the President during his 12-minute speech at the prayer rally in San Pedro Square last January 28. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
