Vice President Sara Duterte would be constitutionally positioned to assume the presidency should President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vacate the post, her spokesman said, pushing back against claims that her demand for his resignation serves her own interests.
Lawyer Paolo Panelo argued on Tuesday, September 15, that the criticism misreads the nature of the vice presidency itself. “She was elected as the Vice President so she was actually the one the people voted for to replace the President if he would resign, so I don’t think this is self-serving or, as some might say, a conflict of interest because for her and for many Filipinos, it’s not really good for the country for the President to remain in office,” he said.
The spokesman framed Duterte’s stance as rooted in a belief that governance under the current administration has broken down, pointing to what he described as large-scale graft. “It means, she believed in her ability to change the system or the government’s practices. Because we saw here under President Marcos’ leadership massive corruption, including the flood control scam, violations of the law that almost every month we have a new creative way to interpret the law that we didn’t study in law school,” Panelo said. Counsel Michael Poa read the remarks as an effective declaration that Duterte intends to seek the presidency in 2028.
Those remarks followed an interview in Quezon City the previous week, where Duterte called Marcos the “problem of the nation” and tied her accusations of corruption, abuse and political persecution to the legal actions targeting her and her relatives.
Panelo traced the roots of the confrontation to 2023, when Duterte first went after then-House speaker Martin Romualdez and former representative Zaldy Co. “It all started, if you remember, Vice President Sara was the first to call out Martin Romualdez and Zaldy Co for controlling the budget. President Marcos ignored her then but you see now they are the ones being flagged as big fish that the government is pursuing for corruption,” he said. He added that her 2024 exit from the Department of Education came “because she didn’t want to be part of that scheme.”
On the legal front, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 turned down Duterte’s bid to have the presiding judge step aside, according to Paul Lawrence Lim. Judge Maria Angelica de Ramos, who rejected the inhibition motion, oversees the grave threats case brought by the Department of Justice and had ordered Duterte’s arrest. Former Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon noted that Marcos appointed De Ramos in March 2025.
Lim said the defense would pursue every option available. “The Vice President will exercise all available remedies. We also received the court’s order requiring both parties to strictly comply with the sub judice rule and to refrain from publicly discussing the merits of the case,” he said. Duterte’s arraignment, set for Friday, was pushed back after her lawyers contested the proceedings, and the team took a parallel route to the Supreme Court, filing a petition for certiorari and prohibition with a request for a temporary restraining order against a DOJ resolution.
The defense also addressed why it did not move to quash the subpoena for retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, after impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol pointed to the unused remedy. Poa acknowledged that such a motion existed as an option but said filing one would have been premature. “While the purpose was indicated in the subpoena, the extent of her testimony, including whether the witness will testify on factual matters, was unknown to the defense,” he said. Prosecutors called Cabotaje-Tang on Monday as they opened arguments on the article alleging that Duterte holds unexplained wealth.
