MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was open to reconciling with the Duterte family, one week after allies of his estranged Vice President, Sara Duterte, outperformed expectations in a fiercely contested and pivotal Senate race.
In a podcast shared on his Facebook page on Monday, Marcos said he needed friends rather than enemies as he seeks to use the remaining three years of his term to deliver on his agenda.
Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term.
“Yes,” Marcos said when asked if he would be open to mending fences, after a bitter and very public falling-out between Marcos and the Duterte camps, which has fractured the once-powerful alliance that swept both to victory in 2022.
“As much as possible, what I am after is stability... so that we can do our jobs. That is why I am always open to things like that,” he told the podcast.
Duterte’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Marcos’ remarks.
Sara Duterte is facing a Senate impeachment trial that could see her removed from office and permanently barred from holding public office again, denying her a presidential run in 2028.
Her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was elected mayor of Davao last week, even as he is detained at the International Criminal Court on charges of murder as a crime against humanity.
Despite surveys predicting a Senate sweep by the president’s allies in the May 12 midterm polls, some victories by Duterte-aligned candidates have given Sara Duterte an important foothold in the Senate that could prove pivotal in an impeachment trial.
All 24 Senators will serve as jurors in the trial, with two-thirds required to vote for the impeachment for it to succeed.
Marcos has distanced himself from the impeachment process, and on Monday said it was in the hands of the Senate.
“There’s a process for that, let’s allow the process to take its course,” he said.
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Philippines’ Marcos says open to reconciling with Dutertes
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Philippines’ Marcos says open to reconciling with Dutertes
- Marcos has distanced himself from the impeachment process, and on Monday said it was in the hands of the Senate
Canadian PM calls Iran war an extreme example of a rupturing world order
MELBOURNE: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he regretted the Iran war was an extreme example of a rupturing world order in which countries increasingly act without respect for international norms and laws.
Carney was speaking at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, during the Australian leg of a trade-focused, three-nation visit that began in India. He will ddress the Australian Parliament on Thursday before flying to Japan on Friday.
“Geo-strategically, hegemons are increasingly acting without constraint or respect for international norms or laws while others bear the consequences. Now the extremes of this disruption are being played out in real time in the Middle East,” Carney said.
Carney built on themes that he laid out at the World Economic Forum in January in Davos, Switzerland, in a speech that garnered widespread attention. He argued the world order was undergoing a rupture and the old norms of the rules-based order were being erased.
Canada supported efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from threatening international peace and security, Carney said.
“We are actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be. But we also take this position with some regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order,” he said.
Despite decades of UN efforts, “Iran’s nuclear threat remains and now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the UN or consulting with allies including Canada,” he added.
Whether the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran broke international law was “a judgment for others to make,” he said.
Canada and Australia aim to increase cooperation in critical minerals, AI and defense technologies.
Carney was speaking at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, during the Australian leg of a trade-focused, three-nation visit that began in India. He will ddress the Australian Parliament on Thursday before flying to Japan on Friday.
“Geo-strategically, hegemons are increasingly acting without constraint or respect for international norms or laws while others bear the consequences. Now the extremes of this disruption are being played out in real time in the Middle East,” Carney said.
Carney built on themes that he laid out at the World Economic Forum in January in Davos, Switzerland, in a speech that garnered widespread attention. He argued the world order was undergoing a rupture and the old norms of the rules-based order were being erased.
Canada supported efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from threatening international peace and security, Carney said.
“We are actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be. But we also take this position with some regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order,” he said.
Despite decades of UN efforts, “Iran’s nuclear threat remains and now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the UN or consulting with allies including Canada,” he added.
Whether the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran broke international law was “a judgment for others to make,” he said.
Canada and Australia aim to increase cooperation in critical minerals, AI and defense technologies.
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