First Lady Hits Sara: ‘I’m Not A Hypocrite…Bad Shot Na ‘Yan Sa Akin’

As rumors swirl about the supposed falling out between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, First Lady Liza Marcos revealed that she now views Vice President Sara Duterte negatively.

The First Lady admitted being hurt when the Vice President, also the education secretary, supposedly laughed after President Marcos was accused of being “bangag” or high on drugs in a rally led by the Dutertes.

Liza was apparently referring to a recent prayer rally in Davao City, where Sara’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, claimed that Marcos is a drug addict. The President just laughed off the allegation.

“Why would you call (the President) bangag ‘di ba? So --- and then the camera panned on her, tumatawa (she was laughing). So siyempre (of course) nakita ko (When I saw it) wow man, I mean, masakit ‘yan (that’s painful),” Liza said in the interview with broadcaster Anthony Taberna, which was aired on YouTube on Friday, April 19.

Sara’s father, Liza said, even accused her of wanting to perpetuate themselves in power and that her son Sandro was eyeing to become prime minister.

She denied these accusations, noting that she was counting the days that they would be in power. “Pero tumawa sila kaya (But they laughed so) for me…mali yata ‘yan (that’s wrong)…you’re getting sweldo (salary) from the government ‘di ba, you’re supposed to be the alter ego, we’re there protecting ta’s gagawin mo ‘yan (and then you will do that). Mali ‘yan eh (That’s wrong), you crossed the line,”

“I’m not a hypocrite,” she stressed. Liza admitted avoiding Sara on some occasions after what happened. She said they would talk whenever they would see each other, but during one of the departure ceremonies for the President, she disclosed that she sarcastically told somebody who commented she was looking good that she was not and that she was “bangag” for Sara to hear. According to Liza, there was no reaction from Sara even when she remarked: “Bangag is the word of the day.”

“I’d do it again…that’s not right,” Liza said, adding the President once asked her to behave but she wouldn’t and told her husband, “Wrong person honey.”

“(That’s) entitled politics, we’re in the government, you’re the Vice President,” Liza pointed out.

The First Lady said she was always kind to Sara, who ran for vice president under the Marcos-led UniTeam alliance in 2022.

Taberna then quoted the First Lady as saying that Sara has “crossed the line” and asked her if Sara apologized. Liza said, “Bad shot na ‘yan sa akin.”

“Unless she says sorry, maybe she will, maybe she ---,” Liza said. “She crossed the line.”

or a reconciliation is still possible.

Asked if a reconciliation was possible, Liza replied: “I mean, for me, nasaktan ako (I was hurt) because my husband will do everything to protect you,” Liza said.

“You ran together, ‘di ba? Sama-sama tayo babangon muli. Pupunta ka sa rally, tatawagin ‘yung presidente mong bangag, ‘di ba (We will rise together again. You will go to a rally, your president will be called a drug addict), you’re going to laugh. Tama ba ‘yan (is that right)? Even (former vice president) Leni (Robredo) never did that,” the First Lady said.

She also said that it’s a different issue when her sons are targeted.

“Ako, I don’t get pikon. I get pikon when they hurt my sons,” the First Lady said.

In her interview, Liza refused to elaborate on her relationship with Sen. Imee Marcos, the President’s older sister and ally of the Dutertes, as she knows not to cross the line.

But she hit back at the vloggers who used to support them but were now engaged in what she described as an obvious concerted effort to discredit them.

Liza also lamented that even in government, things could not get done because of bureaucratic process and that some Cabinet officials have as much as 40 security escorts. The First Lady said said only four members of the Presidential Security Group are assigned to her.

She discussed the projects she initiated and the legacy that they would want to leave after six years. Liza became emotional when she talked about the elderly people that they were trying to help.

Months before Taberna’s interview, a video of Liza snubbing Sara circulated online, fueling rumors that they are not on good terms.

A video by Radio Television Malacañang showed Marcos shaking hands with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and the Vice President before entering the plane that carried him and his delegation to Vietnam.

Liza, who was beside Marcos, was about to board the plane but after seeing that her husband was still talking to Sara, she went back to greet Bersamin with a kiss on the cheek and then walked toward the ladder of the aircraft.

Speculations about the supposed infighting among the President’s allies surfaced after some administration lawmakers realigned the confidential funds of agencies led by the Vice President.

The elder Duterte then accused Marcos’ cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, of “swallowing” discretionary funds and described the House of Representatives as the “most rotten” institution. Last November, Marcos told reporters in Hawaii that the UniTeam alliance remains intact and is even becoming stronger.

In January, the former president claimed in a prayer rally that Marcos was a drug addict and that the fresh push for Charter change was meant to lift the term limits of officials. Marcos responded by saying that the use of Fentanyl may have taken a toll on his predecessor.

However, Duterte’s tirades against Marcos did not end there, as he called the President a “cry baby” and “pro-America” earlier this month. Marcos responded by saying that he has no time for personal attacks.

Marcos had been the subject of Duterte’s verbal attacks even before he became president in 2022.

Months before the elections, Duterte described Marcos as “spoiled” and a “weak leader” with baggage.