Panelo says Sara resignation meant huge loss to Marcos admin

Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation from the Cabinet was a huge loss to the Marcos administration.

In a statement, Panelo said Sara was among the performing secretaries of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Aside from the being the former President’s legal counsel, Panelo also acted as his spokesman for the portion of the Duterte administration.

Panelo said the Vice President’s resignation from the Cabinet was forthcoming given the hostile environment that she found herself in, ”created by the allies of PBBM who were in a hurry to diminish and dislodge her enviable leading spot in the 2028 presidential race.”

Panelo claimed that the supposed ominous omission by Marcos to defend her on various issues ”added to her discomfort.” 

The lawyer also mentioned First Lady Louise ”Liza” Araneta-Marcos’ rift with the Vice President, saying that the former’s public disclosure of her displeasure on a perceived but misplaced slight reinforced the suffocating atmosphere.

”As a principled individual with a high sense of delicadeza, she was caged and chained  — divesting her of the freedom to express herself on government policies not in sync with her convictions without embarrassing the present dispensation,” Panelo said. 

Another former Duterte spokesman, Harry Roque, said the Vice President was now the leader of the opposition after the supposed fallout of the Marcos-Duterte alliance dubbed as the Uniteam.

The Vice President on Wednesday quit as secretary of the Department of Education and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said.

According to PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil, President Ferdinand ”Bongbong” Marcos Jr. accepted Duterte’s resignation, which is effective Friday, July 19. —NB, GMA Integrated News