On Sunday, January 28, Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte reminded President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that it was his father who fulfilled the Marcos clan's long-held goal to give the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. a hero's burial.
"My father allowed their father to be buried," Duterte stated in Bisaya, alluding to former President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to allow the late Marcos' burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He received full military honors in November 2016. Martial Law survivors submitted petitions to stop the relocation, but the Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the hero's burial.
The younger Duterte's statement comes as reports circulate that the International Criminal Court was able to enter the Philippines as part of its continuing probe into killings during Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs.
"Nasakitan kaayo ko (I was really hurt)," the younger Duterte stated, adding, "They want to imprison my father."
Sebastian also escalated the already strained relationship between his family and the Marcos administration by calling on the President to quit. He stated that Marcos should resign if he does not care for the Philippines.
"Mr. President, if there are no aspirations for the imohang nasod, quit," he remarked at an earlier Hakbang ng Maisug Leaders Forum in Davao City. (Mr. President, if you do not love and care about your country, resign.)
Sebastian, Vice President Sara Duterte's younger brother, chastised Marcos for allowing issues to fester under his watch, including internal divisions within his administration.
"You haven't done anything to fix things [and] this has been going on for about a year," he said Bisaya. "If you are holding a position in government and then you prioritize… and then your love for self comes first, this is exactly what will happen."
The younger Duterte's sharp critique is the latest in the ongoing feud between the Marcos-Duterte camp, or the UniTeam, as both sides hold show-of-force events on Sunday.
The Marcos regime started the "Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines)" movement at Manila's Quirino Grandstand. According to the Philippine Information Agency, the event's goal was to "ignite hope and inspire participation in building a better Philippines through collective action."
Meanwhile, followers of the Duterte family have organized a multi-sectoral prayer gathering in Davao City named "One Nation, One Opposition" to protest current efforts to amend the Philippine Constitution.
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