When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte ran together in 2022, they projected an image of overwhelming unity โ a political marriage of convenience that fused the Marcos brand of restoration with the Duterte brand of brute-force populism. Branded as the โUniTeam,โ the alliance promised stability, continuity, and dominance.
By the end of 2025, that alliance had collapsed spectacularly.
What unfolded was not a single disagreement, but a slow-motion political rupture driven by power struggles, mistrust, diverging ambitions, and irreconcilable political worlds โ culminating in impeachment proceedings, criminal cases, and the unprecedented arrest of a former president.
This explainer breaks down what went wrong โ and why there is no turning back.
The illusion of unity
The UniTeam was never built on shared governance or ideology. It was a transactional alliance forged to win an election.
Once in power, the cracks surfaced quickly.
Marcos consolidated control over Congress through Speaker Martin Romualdez, his cousin. Duterte, meanwhile, retained her own power base โ rooted in Mindanao, the security sector, and loyalist networks tied to her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Instead of complementing each other, the two camps began to compete.
Flashpoint 1: The Romualdez feud and the โkill plotโ revelation
The first major rupture came from Vice President Duterteโs escalating feud with House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a central figure in Marcosโ political architecture.
That feud took a darker turn in 2024 when Duterte publicly revealed that she had ordered a supposed โkill plotโ targeting Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Romualdez โ a disclosure that stunned the political establishment.
While framed by Duterte as a defensive measure, the revelation crossed an unforgivable line: it transformed political rivalry into a national security issue.
From that point on, trust between the President and Vice President effectively evaporated.
Flashpoint 2: National security and Duterteโs sidelining
The distrust became policy.
At the tail end of 2024, Marcos signed Executive Order No. 81 reorganizing the National Security Council, removing Duterte from its membership. Malacaรฑang said her role was no longer relevant to the councilโs functions.
Politically, the message was unmistakable: Duterte was no longer part of Marcosโ inner circle.
This was not a symbolic snub โ it was a strategic move to isolate the Vice President from security decision-making, one of the Duterte campโs strongest domains.
Flashpoint 3: The 2028 question
Duterteโs early declaration in Japan that she was โseriously consideringโ a run in the 2028 elections further hardened the divide.
For Malacaรฑang, the statement was premature โ and threatening. Marcos had not even reached the midpoint of his term, yet his vice president was already positioning herself as a successor or rival.
In Philippine politics, early ambition is often treated as disloyalty.
From this point, Duterte was no longer just a difficult partner โ she was a potential adversary.
Flashpoint 4: Impeachment โ the point of no return
On February 6, 2025, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly impeached Duterte over the use of confidential funds in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, which she previously headed.
It was the first time since EDSA that a sitting vice president had been pushed to the brink of removal.
Marcos denied any involvement, insisting the executive branch had no role. But politically, impeachment could not have advanced without the tacit consent of a House firmly aligned with the President.
For Duterte, impeachment was not just a legal threat โ it was a declaration of political war.
Her casual dismissal of the move โ even joking that it hurt less than losing a boyfriend โ masked a deeper reality: the UniTeam was finished.
Flashpoint 5: Criminal cases and defiance
Days after the impeachment, the National Bureau of Investigation filed criminal complaints against Duterte over the alleged kill plot.
Still, she projected defiance rather than retreat โ filing a petition before the Supreme Court to block the impeachment and naming her father as one of her legal counsels.
This was no longer institutional conflict. It had become personal, dynastic, and generational.
The breaking point: Rodrigo Duterte and The Hague
The final, irreversible rupture came in March 2025.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested upon returning from Hong Kong and transferred to The Hague to face charges before the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Vice President Duterte immediately flew to the Netherlands, effectively sidelining her official duties to focus on her fatherโs defense.
Marcos again denied involvement, pointing out that the ICC case dated back to 2017. But for the Duterte camp, the arrest was viewed as betrayal โ or worse, consent.
Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterteโs public outburst against Marcos captured the depth of anger within the Duterte family.
From this moment on, reconciliation became politically impossible.
Why the rift cannot be repaired
This is no longer a dispute that can be resolved by dialogue or compromise.
Three realities make reconciliation impossible:
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Mutual distrust has hardened into institutional action โ impeachment, criminal cases, and security exclusion.
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Succession politics has intervened โ Duterteโs 2028 ambitions clash with Marcosโ control of the post-2025 political landscape.
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The ICC arrest personalized the conflict โ turning a political feud into a family and legacy battle.
The Marcos camp is now invested in containing Duterteโs power. The Duterte camp, in turn, frames itself as a persecuted opposition force โ even while still formally holding office.
The fallout
What remains of the UniTeam is a name without substance.
By the end of 2025, the Philippines found itself governed by a President and Vice President not merely divided, but actively working against each other โ a rupture that reshaped alliances, destabilized institutions, and set the stage for a bruising 2028 election cycle.
This was not just the collapse of a political partnership.
The rift in the ruling coalition imploded โ a reminder that unity built on convenience rarely survives the test of power.
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