A number of analysts level to Ms. Duterte’s separate inauguration ceremony and Mr. Marcos’s determination to additionally appoint her training secretary — as an alternative of protection, as she had requested — as an indication of brewing rigidity. Ms. Duterte instructed a Occasions reporter that she was not upset with the job Mr. Marcos gave her, saying “the protection portfolio was a dialogue we had earlier than we grew to become a tandem.”
Straight speaking and charismatic, the 44-year-old mom of three is beloved amongst many Filipinos. Earlier than she expressed any curiosity in working within the presidential election, a whole bunch of “Run, Sara, Run” teams had fashioned all through the nation. She clinched the vice-presidential election with the most important majority since 1969, garnering 32 million votes, exceeding the 31 million votes earned by Mr. Marcos. As a military reserve colonel, she nearly definitely has the loyalty of the army.
Leni Hernandez, Ms. Duterte’s highschool instructor, described her as “headstrong.” “That’s one factor I’m positive that she’ll carry as vice chairman,” she mentioned. “You can’t dominate her.”
At occasions, Ms. Duterte has even defied her father. When he was president, she branched out to type her personal regional political occasion, with many senior politicians flying to Davao to realize her assist. When her father requested her to endorse his right-hand man for president within the election, she rebuffed him.
Ramon Beleno III, a political science professor on the Ateneo De Davao, mentioned Mr. Marcos’s determination to disclaim Ms. Duterte the protection portfolio prompt that he was involved about giving her a extra essential position. “Then she may find yourself overshadowing him,” he mentioned.
Specialists say Ms. Duterte may place herself as a powerful candidate for the presidency in 2028, when Mr. Marcos’s time period ends. In her first 100 days in workplace, she has established satellite tv for pc places of work in key cities throughout the Philippines, the primary for a vice chairman. She has met greater than a dozen diplomats, together with China’s International Minister Wang Yi.
