The specter of another Duterte in Malacañang is something Filipinos should treat with alarm, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said, warning that Vice President Sara Duterte in the presidency could prove more damaging than her father’s six-year rule.
“We have seen Duterte part 1, Duterte 2.0 under Sara Duterte could be worse because of the temperament of Sara Duterte,” Trillanes said in an appearance on “Long Conversation: The View From Manila” on One News.
He argued that a leader with what he characterized as a more volatile disposition at the helm of the executive branch risks institutional strain and potential abuses of power — concerns he said go beyond political rivalry and touch on the durability of democratic governance itself.
Duterte, who announced her intention to seek the presidency in 2028, currently leads preference surveys for that election, though OCTA Research group founder Ranjit Rye noted last week that her margin over former Vice President Leni Robredo has already narrowed in the first quarter. Rye, speaking on One News program “Storycon,” said full survey results would be released within the week.
Robredo, who served as vice president from 2016 to 2022 before losing her 2022 presidential bid to Ferdinand Marcos Jr., now serves as Naga City mayor. Trillanes expressed frustration over what he called her “nonchalant” posture toward the prospect of a Duterte return to power, saying her current focus on local governance has not been accompanied by any clear signal about her national ambitions.
That ambiguity, Trillanes argued, has direct consequences for the opposition’s ability to consolidate early.
“But if she’s going to rule out any scenario that she’ll run in 2028, she has to be definitive because (Senators) Bam (Aquino) and Risa (Hontiveros) will not grow. She will have to be definitive and the fact that she isn’t definitive leads me to conclude that she is really interested,” he said.
In February, Liberal Party figure and former budget secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad had indicated that Aquino and Hontiveros were open to presidential runs under a united opposition banner, while noting that Robredo remains the most electable option among her backers.
