Sen. Imee Marcos (L) and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. | PHOTOS: Senate PRIB and official Facebook page of Bongbong Marcos
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Imee Marcos claimed Thursday that her younger brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., got upset with her after she investigated the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
As head of the Senate committee on foreign relations, Sen. Marcos led the probe into the Duterte’s arrest upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong on March 11.
The arrest was ordered by the International Criminal Court, where Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his administration’s war on drugs.
READ: Duterte ICC arrest: Imee says Senate panel found ‘glaring lapses’
The senator surmised her brother took the Senate probe badly.
“It seems like that, but I don’t understand it because, for me, the people have become too emotional, angry, and frantic. We saw them on the streets, crying, protesting. So, instead of letting the situation get worse, I decided to find out what was really happening to help calm us all down and analyze what truly occurred,” she said in Filipino.
She stressed it was not her intention to make the hearing “anti-administration.”
In fact, the senator noted that most of the resource persons in the hearing last week were from the government
“I didn’t know their answers, that’s why I was asking questions because I didn’t know the answers. How would I know what they would answer? When they couldn’t agree and their answers didn’t match, it didn’t reflect well on the government. I think they got upset with me for exposing that during the hearing,” he further said.
Asked later if it was President Marcos who got upset with her, the senator said: “Yes, yes, yes.”
This kept her wondering because at first, she said, the government did not even want to participate in the probe but later sent many officials to the hearing.
READ: Sen. Imee Marcos leaves bro’s Alyansa ticket, cites Duterte arrest
“I was surprised when [he] got mad because it think the answers didn’t match and weren’t in agreement. But it’s not my fault; how would I know what they’re going to say,” she stressed.
“How did [he] get upset? Well, I was feeling uncertain because I didn’t go, even though I really wanted to. I was over-prepared to go to the rally in Tacloban. I didn’t go, and luckily, I didn’t go because I wasn’t mentioned, and that’s how I found out,” the senator added.
Sen. Imee was part of her brother’s senatorial ticket until she announced her withdrawal on Wednesday.
In Malacanang, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro could not confirm the senator’s claim.
“We have not heard anything from the President. She is the only one speaking about things like that,” Castro said in a press briefing.
“Maybe that’s her point of view, but from the President, we won’t be hearing anything,” she said.