Marcos-Duterte feud: in Liza vs Sara war of words, all eyes on who will be Philippines’ next president

Like many quarrels, this one seemed to start innocuously enough: with a laugh.

“I was hurt, because my husband will do everything to protect you,” Araneta-Marcos said, addressing the vice-president directly. “You ran together, right? Our motto was we would rise together”.

“She crossed a line,” Araneta-Marcos, 64, said of the 44-year-old Duterte-Carpio, calling for her to say sorry. “That’s not right. That’s entitled politics. You’re in the government. You’re the vice-president.”

It took Duterte-Carpio five days to craft a reply, which she released in the form of a Facebook video to her 2.2 million followers on Monday. Without sounding contrite, she said it was the first lady’s “right” to feel hurt, before adding that “her personal feelings have nothing to do with my mandate as a government official”.

The vice-president said she would have a “private conversation” with Marcos to determine the next steps, going on to urge the government to focus its efforts on solving inflation, poverty, the “proliferation of illegal drugs”, terrorism and the communist insurgency, as well as providing water and electricity to all.

It triggered an immediate outcry from both her adversaries and Marcos loyalists, who wasted no time in demanding her immediate resignation or expulsion from her role as education secretary in the cabinet.

Marcos’ reaction to Duterte-Carpio’s comments was placatory. Instead of vociferously defending his wife’s outburst, he merely said the first lady “is not used to politics”.

“We politicians are used to personal insults; we’re numb to that,” he said. “She didn’t come from a political family, so maybe she still has a lot to learn in letting hurtful, heated words pass.”

Marcos said he was a “lucky husband” because “when she