By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte officially endorsed the re-election bid of Senator Imee Marcos this week, but the VP’s close allies are not happy with her call.

For one, lawyer Harry Roque, former spokesman of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, said he was grudgingly supporting the elder sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Speaking in English and the vernacular, Roque addressed Ms.Marcos, saying: “Do not make the mistake that you have fooled us, that you are different from your brother.”

He also said that a mango tree cannot produce santol fruit.

Former president Duterte’s partner, Honeylet Avancena, also said she had no time for Ms. Marcos’s political gimmickry, referring to the Senate hearings held on the government’s role in the alleged illegal deportation of the former chief executive.

Avancena said Marcos’s actions were just “pa ek-ek lang” or meaningless.

Ms. Marcos cut her political ties with her brother two weeks ago, after earlier saying she preferred to seek re-election as an independent candidate.

After VP Duterte endorsed Ms. Marcos, a political ad came out showing the two dressed in black, with the Filipino word “Itim”. Ms. Marcos said it was Ms. Duterte’s idea/concept,  as black was meant to symbolize the fight for what was right.

The VP’s camp, however, also said that ITIM was an acronym for “Inday Trusts Imee Marcos.”

In their ad, VP Duterte said the Philippines was now under a black cloud due to massive hunger and crime. The people were in mourning, she added.

Ms. Marcos said she was saddened at the path her brother was taking, adding that the president had surrounded himself with a cordon sanitaire that prevented the two of them from talking.

“We’re still family,” she said, adding “this is just politics.”

In reply, Presidential Communications Office undersecretary Claire Castro said, “I thought it was a 2022 campaign ad because it appropriately described the previous administration.”

Earlier, former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo mocked Senator Marcos, singing the first strains of the song “Balatkayo” (pretender) to describe the president’ sister.

By most accounts, Ms. Marcos’s campaign has been struggling despite her reportedly having already spent P1 billion. Her message has not resonated with the electorate, as she had been outside of the winning circle of 12 in survey after survey.

Political analysts say the perception that what Imee was doing was the equivalent to “namamangka sa dalawang ilog,” or sailing a canoe on two rivers.