Sara skips Marcos' middle initial in speech, says she loves him

Vice President Sara Duterte intentionally skipped mentioning President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s middle initial as she acknowledged the Chief Executive at the start of her speech on Monday.

At the “Pasidungog,” an event to pay tribute to the Office of the Vice President's stakeholders, Duterte acknowledged Marcos’ “all-out support” for the OVP.

“Hindi ko na banggitin ang middle initial niya… Apo, alam mo ‘yan na mahal kita,” a smiling Duterte said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

(I won’t mention his middle initial anymore. Apo, you know that I love you.)

Duterte didn't elaborate why she didn't mention Marcos' middle initial.

Marcos’ middle name is Romualdez, a name he shares with his first cousin Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez

The Speaker is the president of the Lakas-CMD, the party under which Duterte ran for Vice President and from which she recently resigned.

Duterte resigned from Lakas-CMD after its chairperson-emeritus former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was relegated to Deputy Speaker from being Senior Deputy Speaker.

Arroyo denied that she had planned a plot to oust Romualdez as Speaker.

Hours after Duterte announced her resignation from Lakas-CMD, Arroyo posted their picture together with several other personalities after lunch.

Marcos has said the leadership change in the House was part of its reorganization.

As for Duterte's resignation from the party, Marcos said he understood as she already had too much on her plate.

“Noong malapit na matapos ang kampanya, [when the campaign was about to end], I told him, sabi ko, ‘Apo, when you become President, mag-ingat ka dahil [you take care because] there are certain segments of the female population that are attracted to power and men in power,’” Duterte said.

“I told sabi him na mag-ingat ka kasi madadagdan ang mga anak mo [take care because you will have more children]. So, that is how we develop our friendship,” she added.

The House of Representatives earlier voted to replace former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with Pampanga Representative Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales, Jr. as senior deputy speaker.

Arroyo, who was demoted to the deputy speaker, said the move was “the prerogative of the House” and denied rumors that she was plotting moves to oust Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Two days after Arroyo was replaced as senior deputy speaker, Duterte announced her irrevocable resignation as a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party.

Though she did not mention the reason for her resignation, the Vice President said the Filipino people's trust in her to lead the country cannot be poisoned by "political toxicity" or undermined by "execrable political powerplay."

Romualdez and Arroyo are both stalwarts of the Lakas-CMD—Romualdez is its president, while Arroyo is the chairperson emeritus.

On May 21, Duterte posted a photo of herself with a cryptic caption: “Sa imong ambisyon, do not be tambaloslos.” 

Among the Visayans, “tambaloslos” usually refers to a greedy mythical creature that has a large mouth and leads people astray. —NB, GMA Integrated News