The situation has changed, the Philippine political scene may be reshuffled, Duterte is back in the mountains, Marcos urgently summoned 50 people to "fight", what does Duterte and Marcos's movements show? What is Duterte doing when he comes back to the mountains?
On the 25th, Philippine Vice President Sarah Duterte revealed a message to the public, pointing out that her father, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and her two brothers intend to run for the Senate in 2025. In other words, the 79-year-old Duterte is about to come back to the mountain. In January last year, Duterte said he was ready to leave politics because he was tired. Apparently, now the situation has changed. It is understood that Duterte and his two sons plan to participate in the midterm elections to be held in May next year, when the Philippines will elect 12 senators, in addition to representatives and local administrators, which will influence the political direction of the Philippines. In other words, if Duterte and his two sons are both elected in next year's election, there could be a reshuffle in Philippine politics, where they may use their influence to block legislation or call for investigations into controversial policies.
Why did Duterte choose to re-emerge at this point in time? How did the Marcos administration respond to Duterte's candidacy for the Senate? Philippine media believe that Duterte and Marcos allies are preparing for the 2025 elections. Senator Ime Marcos, the sister of Philippine President Marcos, said there were about 50 people on Marcos' list of candidates who planned to compete for a seat in the Senate. In other words, Marcos has summoned 50 people to "fight" against Duterte in the midterm elections next May. As for Duterte's choice to play in person, this is closely related to the current rivalry between the Duterte and Marcos families. The above-mentioned movements of Duterte and Marcos also indicate that the current struggle between the two political families has entered a "white heat".
Not so long ago, Sarah Duterte abruptly submitted her resignation to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, resigning as secretary of education and vice chairman of the counterinsurgency task force, retaining only the vice presidency. Sarah's move was also interpreted by the outside world as the latest sign of the escalation of the rift between the two major families in the Philippines. As for the reason for Sarah's resignation, some public opinion has given a theory, which is likely to be related to the Marcos government's intention to "clean up" the "pro-China faction" led by Duterte in the Philippines.
Separately, before Sarah submitted her resignation, Marcos dismissed dozens of police officers loyal to former President Rodrigo Duterte, the first of whom was Davao City Police Chief Badeang, one of Duterte's most trusted officers who had just been promoted to the post of chief two months earlier. At "almost the same time" that Marcos issued his dismissal order, the Philippine military also received a special directive, and Marcos urged the Philippine military to be loyal to him. This incident has also aroused strong public concern in the Philippines. At the time, Sebastian Duterte, the mayor of Davao City in the Philippines and Duterte's youngest son, bluntly said that such a dismissal order was a manifestation of "abuse of power by superiors". To put it bluntly, in Sebastian's view, the Marcos government is abusing its power.
Originally, the Duterte family and the Marcos family, as the two largest political families in the Philippines, did not deal with each other in terms of political positions, although in 2022, the two families rarely joined forces, and Sarah became Marcos's vice presidential running mate. But the outside world is not optimistic about this "political combination", believing that their alliance will collapse sooner or later, and with Sarah's resignation, reality seems to be proving this. In fact, on the previous issue of "constitutional amendment", Duterte and Marcos were already in a state of tension. As a result, Duterte has also launched the Mindanao "independence" movement, and he has threatened that if Marcos continues to implement the "constitutional amendment" plan, then the Mindanao region will seek "independence". In addition, there are also big differences between Marcos and Duterte on issues such as China policy and relations with the United States. Duterte's intention to re-run for the Senate is likely to be one of the measures taken to prevent the Marcos administration from ignoring the Philippines' own interests and blindly turning to the United States.