By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA –  The political ties between siblings Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Imee Marcos are officially over even as the president is reportedly trying to coax two of the strongest opposition candidates for senator to join his slate.

Senator Imee Marcos announced last week that she was exiting her brother’s administration slate due to what she said was a concerted effort to hide the truth behind the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In her ongoing Senate investigation of last month’s arrest of Duterte by the Interpol, Ms. Marcos was informed over the weekend that Cabinet secretaries called to testify would not honor the invitation.

In a letter to the Senate, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin invoked executive privilege over certain details of Duterte’s arrest.

Said Imee: “Clearly there were actions taken by the administration which run counter to my ideals and principles.”

She then said she “cannot stand on the same campaign platform as the rest of Alyansa” which serves as the umbrella organization for the administration’s Senate bets in the coming elections.

“I will maintain my independence,” Marcos said.

Analysts say that Senator Marcos’s latest move lessens her chances of being re-elected.

Although she has reportedly already spent more than a billion pesos for her campaign, Marcos has not been doing well in the surveys. The latest Social Weather Stations survey announced before her announcement had her dropping below the winning circle of 12.

(Note: The only other candidate who has spent P1 billion so far is Camille Villar.)

Senator Marcos said President Marcos’ Cabinet officials had been concealing “essential facts” regarding the arrest of Duterte. She suggested that the former president’s arrest may have violated the country’s sovereignty.

According to the senator, “Over and above political advantage, the sovereignty of the country and the interest of true justice for every Filipino must remain paramount.”

Legal experts, however,  say Duterte’s arrest was lawful, with Senate President Chiz Escudero saying the Philippines’ sovereignty was not compromised.

It was actually the families of victims of Duterte’s drug war who filed the case with the International Criminal Court, which conducted its own investigation and determined that the former president was liable.

The ICC then told Interpol to arrest Duterte, which was done with the help of the Philippine National Police.

Senator Marcos recently said that she was no longer speaking with her brother, the president. She blamed his cordon sanitaire from blocking her attempts to communicate with the president, her younger brother.

President Marcos’s camp had not been happy with Senator Marcos’s support for the Dutertes, despite Vice President Sara Duterte threatening to have the president killed if she were ever assassinated.

The VP’s camp, however, has not welcomed Senator Marcos, and has refused to endorse her re-election bid.

President Marcos’s campaign group has reportedly reached out to former senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, both seeking to return to the Senate in this year’s elections.

The opposition, however, has refused to confirm or deny the reports.