starbet777 On New Year's Day, Marcos, Sara Duterte reflect on challenging 2024

MANILA, Philippines — While at political oddsstarbet777, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte both acknowledged the difficulties of the past year and encouraged Filipinos to embrace 2025 with renewed hope and resilience.  

The year 2024 marked the end of the Uniteam alliance that had secured Marcos and Duterte’s landslide victory in the 2022 elections. The fallout between the two leaders escalated to the point where Duterte faced an investigation for allegedly making death threats against Marcos.  

In her New Year’s message, Duterte reflected on the trials of the past year:  

“Ang taong 2024 ay sumubok sa ating katatagan at humulma sa atin bilang isang sambayanang naninindigan para sa katarungan at kaunlaran (The year 2024 tried our strength and formed us as one nation that stands for justice and progress),” she said.  

Duterte refrained from naming names and specific incidents. But her remarks on justice came amid controversies involving her family and impeachment cases filed against her in Congress.  

For instance, he cited a previous SC ruling that opened the party-list system to different kinds of groups other than those representing the marginalized and underrepresented sectors.

The vice president spent a large chunk of the press conference describing her former running-mate as an incompetent president, who she had sensed was unfit for the position from the start of their 2022 campaign due to his lack of a clear platform.

For 2025, the vice president’s message appeared to draw inspiration from her old slogan with Marcos from their Uniteam days: to stand united.

“Ngayong 2025, sama-sama nating harapin ang iba’t ibang hamon na magpapatibay sa atin bilang isang bansang patuloy na nananalig sa Diyos at nagtutulungan para sa ikauunlad at ikabubuti ng ating pamilya (This 2025, we will face the different challenges united, and they will make us stronger as one country devoted to God, that helps each other for the progress and welfare of our families),” she said.

Marcos highlighted the natural disasters that devastated parts of the country in late 2024 as his administration’s primary challenge:  

“The previous months, for instance, have been filled with incredible challenges as calamities disrupted lives and communities. Reflecting on the resilience we have shown in overcoming them, it is crucial for our progress to esteem such moments as hallmarks of the extraordinary strength we gain through solidarity and perseverance,” he said.  

Marcos made no mention of the political turbulence of the recent months. Beyond his clashes with Duterte, Marcos’ administration has faced several controversies, with the most recent being the budget crisis that delayed its signing.

The delay to December 30 stemmed from revisions made by the executive branch to address ballooning unprogrammed funds in Congress’s approved budget.

Marcos vetoed items worth P194 billion, including P168.24 billion in unprogrammed funds.  

“As we move forward into 2025, we look ahead with renewed hope and optimism knowing that our experiences will guide us into building a future filled with promise and purposestarbet777,” Marcos said in his New Year’s message.