Marcos: UniTeam still vibrant, still working

UniTeam, the coalition which catapulted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte to power, still exists despite the apparent disagreements among officials behind the alliance in 2022, the Chief Executive has said.

At a news briefing in Vietnam, Marcos was asked if the UniTeam still existed.

"Uniteam is not just one or two or three parties. It's the unification of all the political forces to come together for the good of the country," Marcos said.

"It is still there, still vibrant, still working, and we will continue to work on that basis,” he added.

Amid a deepening rift between their two families, the President has assigned Duterte as the Philippines' caretaker while he is in Vietnam for a state visit.

Just last Sunday, Duterte expressed support for the Marcos administration's 8-point socioeconomic agenda during the Bagong Pilipinas kick-off rally in Manila City.

A few hours later, however, the vice president attended a prayer rally in her family's bailiwick of Davao City.

During the Davao rally, her brother Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte asked Marcos to resign if the President does not have love or aspirations for the country.

Their father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had choice words for the incumbent Chief Executive during the same event, claiming that the latter is a drug addict and that the Marcos family members are trying to perpetuate themselves in power.

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, a close ally of the former president, earlier challenged Malacañang to be man enough and tell them upfront if the government allowed investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enter the country for their probe on the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

The Duterte patriarch alleged that the motivation behind the ongoing people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution was to strengthen the Marcoses' hold on power.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a cousin of the President, has denied allegations that he is spearheading the ongoing people's initiative.

However, the President's elder sister, Senator Imee Marcos, has claimed that Romualdez's office is behind the alleged P20-million allocations for congressional districts to push for the people's initiative and the purported Charter change timeline.

Under Imee's questioning at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the lead convenor of Charter change advocacy group People's Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) admitted that he coordinated with Romualdez on the gathering of signatures for the ongoing people's initiative.

She also claimed that Sebastian has apologized for his remarks against her brother. However, she distanced herself from the exchange of accusations by her brother and former president Duterte regarding drug abuse. — Ivan Mayrina/NB/ VDV, GMA Integrated News