Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer Bongbong Marcos believes that President Duterte was just "playing politics" when the latter called him unsavory names not too long ago.
UniTeam bet Marcos was the guest during the Tuesday, April 26 episode of CNN Philippines' The Presidential Candidates: In Private interview series.
It didn't take host Ruth Cabal long for her to hurl one of the lingering questions about the Ilocano candidate when it comes to his relationship with President Duterte.
"There was one speech where President Duterte said you were a spoiled brat and a weak leader. Do you want to respond to that?" Cabal asked.
"Yeah," Marcos quickly replied.
"Well...I think he was playing politics," he added, the two phrases sandwiching a bit of nervous laughter.
But Marcos managed to compose himself and laid out what he thought about the person currently sitting in Malacañang: "I think one of the things we have learned about PRRD (President Duterte) is that he likes to keep everyone on their toes."
"He's always making sure everybody's thinking hard about what they're doing. So I think that was one of their instances," added the presidential race survey frontrunner.
Whatever the case is, the two have apparently buried the hatchet when they met late last month. Soon after this meeting, the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which the Chief Executive chairs, endorsed Marcos's Palace bid.
However, President Duterte has yet to personally endorse Marcos in the upcoming elections, which will be held on May 9.
Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is Marcos's running mate.