ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Does VP Sara view Risa as her rival? 'Probably,' says Leila

Does VP Sara view Risa as her rival? 'Probably,' says Leila

Published Feb 9, 2026 06:20 pm

At A Glance

  • Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima says it's probable that Vice President Sara Duterte sees Senator Risa Hontiveros as a future election rival.
Vice President Sara Duterte (left) Senator Risa Hontiveros (Facebook)
Vice President Sara Duterte (left) Senator Risa Hontiveros (Facebook)


Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima says it's probable that Vice President Sara Duterte sees Senator Risa Hontiveros as a future election opponent.
"That's probably her (Duterte) motivation. But, you know, that's--we have to look into her state of mind," De Lima told House of Representatives reporters in a chance interview, Monday, Feb. 9.
The House deputy minority leader gave this response when asked if she thought Duterte viewed Hontiveros as a potential opponent based on the Vice President's recent statements.
Duterte had earlier assailed Akbayan Party-list and its longtime leader in the House, Hontiveros for pursuing her impeachment. She said that the filing was "politically-motivated", given Hontiveros' supposed plan to run for president in the May 2028 national elections.
Whatever Duterte's motivation was for responding to Hontiveros that way, De Lima pointed out that the senator actually didn't have anything to do with the filing of impeachment complaints, be it in the previous 19th Congress or the current 20th Congress.
When it comes to the first ever impeachment complaint filed against Duterte on Dec. 2, 2024, De Lima noted that it was actually Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña who endorsed it.
Cendaña would again endorse--this time with De Lima---a similar complaint against the second highest official of the land on Feb. 2, 2026.
"So hindi lang Akbayan, hindi lang si Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña ang nag-endorse. Hindi naman inendorse yan syempre ni Senator Risa Hontiveros (So it was not only Akbayan, not only Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña who endorsed. Of course, Senator Risa Hontiveros did not endorse that)," De Lima said.
"So bakit ngayon lang niya sinasabi yung tungkol sa pamumulitika? (So why is she bringing up politics only now?)" the ML Party-list solon wondered.
Based on recent interviews, Hontiveros has appeared open to a run for higher office in 2028.
'Shallow'
De Lima, herself a former senator, went on to describe Duterte's remarks on the fresh impeachment raps as "shallow".
"Kasi shallow ang kanyang magiging defense legally speaking kaya doon na lang siya pumupuntirya sa political aspect of the whole case (Because her legal defense is shallow, she instead targets the political aspect of the whole case)," she said.
"Pero it's a political argument, not at all with respect to the legal merits, substantive merits of the complaint. Yung lang naman ang importante (Only that is important). That's an extraneous factor. I call it an extraneous argument yung ganyang mga tirada niya sa Akbayan, kay Senator Risa Hontiveros (I call such attacks against Akbayan and Senator Risa Hontiveros extraneous arguments)," she added.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.