Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (left) and Sara Duterte during their proclamation as the winning presidential and vice presidential bets, respectively, on May 25, 2022. The proclamation took place at the House of Representatives. (Inday Sara Duterte's Facebook)

Is this the beginning of the end of the "UniTeam" between President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte?

Makabayan bloc solons raised this question Friday, May 19 even as they played the role of mere spectators to the high drama unfolding within the supermajority in the House of Representatives.

"Tanong natin, ito ba ay maaga pa ay nabiyak na, nabibiyak na ang UniTeam or napupunit na itong UniTeam na pinangungunahan ni Marcos Jr. at VP Sara Duterte? (Our question is, is the UniTeam of Marcos Jr. and VP Sara Duterte starting to crack and tear this early?)" ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro said in virtual press conference Friday.

The supposed cracks in the alliance began to show with the "demotion" of Pampanga 2nd district Representative and Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) Chairperson Emeritus Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from senior deputy speaker to deputy speaker during the House's May 17 plenary session.

On Friday morning, Vice President Duterte announced her resignation from Lakas-CMD. She was the erstwhile party chairperson.

Marcos' link to Duterte is House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the Lakas-CMD president. The latter was also then-Davao City Mayor Duterte's campaign manager in the May 9, 2022 elections.

Commenting on these developments, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel said that a political alliance is only as strong as its foundation.

"Dahil na-raise mapupunit na daw ba ang UniTeam, kaya kapag ang alliance ay hindi nakabatay sa principles or platform, magiging fragile talaga ang mabubuong alliance at hindi ito magtatagal ng habang panahon (Since it was asked if the UniTeam is beginning to tear apart, I say that if an alliance is not based on principles or platform, the alliance formed will be one fragile and it won't last for long)," he said.

Castro said Arroyo's removal as senior deputy speaker reminds her of the events leading to the House coup in 2018 when the latter replaced Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as House Speaker. The upheaval happened on the day of then-president Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address (SONA), and caused a long delay in the proceedings.

Before the coup on Alvarez, Arroyo was removed by the House leadership as deputy speaker after she refused to vote in favor of death penalty.

"Baka magkaroon na naman ng, baka may SONA, baka may magtago na naman ng mace at tumagal na naman ang SONA. At dito nga tinitingnan natin meron na bang nangyayaring power grab. So dapat ito ay bantayan ng Marcos administration (There might be another SONA wherein some will hide the mace and delay the SONA. We're trying to look if we're seeing a power grab. So the Marcos administration must look out for this)," Castro said.

Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas agreed with Castro's points and claimed that there have been "indicators" of cracks within the ruling coalition.

For one, she opined that Arroyo and President Marcos don't see eye-to-eye when it come former president Duterte's aggressive war on drugs. Vice President Duterte is former president Duterte's eldest daughter.

Marcos and the younger Duterte ran for president and vice president, respectively during the last year's polls under the UniTeam banner. They both scored historic majority victories, with Marcos garnering 31 million votes and Duterte getting 32 million votes.

The three Makabayan lawmakers are part of the broader minority bloc in the House of Representatives.