As the Marcos Jr. government and United States get closer and closer, the internal contradictions in the Philippines have gradually intensified, and the relationship between the two families of Marcos and Duterte has completely broken down, and "the coffin has hammered the last nail."
Duterte and Marcos Jr
As we all know, after Marcos Jr. came to power, the Philippines began to deviate from its original diplomatic track, gradually messing up Sino-Philippine relations, strengthening US-Philippine military cooperation, and at the same time making a big fuss in the direction of the South China Sea.
Marcos Jr.'s move has brought not only public opinion pressure to the Philippines, but also economic losses. Ongoing tensions between China and the Philippines and friction in the South China Sea have led to a visible decline in trade cooperation between the two countries. In the past, China was a big customer of Philippine fruits, but now Chinese consumers have better choices, and Southeast Asian countries such as Viet Nam are scrambling to fill the gap in Philippine products.
It is true that one day or two days can be passed, but after a long time, it will not work, and the complaints in the Philippines have been one after another. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Duterte family began to attack, preparing to pull Marcos Jr. from power.
Marcos Jr
In fact, there are traces of the quarrel between the two major families of Madu. During the election campaign, Duterte's daughter, Sarah, was seen as the most likely candidate for the presidency, but Marcos Jr. was later killed.
He and Sarah are running for the presidency and Sarah is running for the vice presidency, and although it is not explicit, this is a partnership between the two families.
This time, Sarah used her appeal to vote for Marcosra Jr. to ensure that he sat on the presidency, and next time the Marcos family will cooperate with Sarah to send her to the presidency and take turns to sit in the presidency, which is also the status quo in Philippine politics, and it is the unwritten cooperation and tacit understanding between the two families of Madu.
Sarah and Marcos Jr
But it is clear that Marcos Jr. reversed his promise not long after he came to power and began to point his guns on the Duterte family, such as conniving at the continued fermentation of rumors about Duterte, attacking the Duterte family's base camp, and replacing dozens of pro-Duterte police officers at a time.
Later, Marcos Jr. directly isolated Sarah unabashedly, assigning her several civilian positions with no actual right to speak, trying to marginalize her. The consequence of this is to anger the Duterte family, after Sarah has announced that she has resigned from several modest positions and retained only the vice president.
What Sarah's move means, the Marcos Jr. administration knows very well in its heart, and she wants to draw a line with the Marcos Jr. cabinet.
Sarah
If this can be regarded as retaining decency, then when Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Union address, Sarah's choice was equivalent to directly giving him a "resounding slap in the face", bringing the discord between the two sides to the surface, and there was no longer any cover-up.
Sarah, who has twice attended Marcos Jr.'s State of the Union address, refused to attend Marcos Jr.'s third speech in late July. This means that the so-called "solidarity alliance" that she and Marcos Jr. concluded during the 2022 election has completely broken down, and the two Madu families have become increasingly fierce against each other.
Hong Kong media "South China Morning Post" spicy comment, saying that this can be regarded as "the last nail" to the coffin of cooperation between the two sides.
Marcos Jr
It is worth mentioning that shortly before Marcos Jr.'s speech, a group of Duterte supporters released a video accusing Marcos of "drug use", but Philippine officials flatly denied this, saying that the video was a malicious fake video aimed at destabilizing the government.
After Marcos Jr.'s speech, the Philippine National Police withdrew 75 officers in charge of Sarah's security, and Police Chief Marbil declared that they did not see any threats against the vice president.
Philippines
But Sarah disagrees with this statement, because the removed police officers are people she has trusted and trusted for a long time, and were sent to her by Duterte during his tenure.
Needless to say, Marcos Jr. and Sarah's rivalry is escalating. While strengthening military cooperation with United States, vigorously supporting United States's deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Philippines, and continuing to provoke China in the South China Sea, while suppressing political opponents and engaging in infighting at home, is the Marcos Jr. administration really busy? All we can say about this is that Marcos Jr.'s suffering is still to come.