Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked all of his Cabinet secretaries to submit resignations on Thursday in a “bold reset” of his administration following last week’s mid-term elections, which saw more opposition candidates win crucial Senate seats.

Marcos, the 67-year-old son of a late Philippine dictator overthrown in 1986, won the presidency in the deeply divided Southeast Asian country by a landslide in 2022 in a stunning political comeback as he made a steadfast call for national unity. But his equally popular vice-presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, later broke from him in a falling out that has sparked intense political discord.

With support from treaty ally the United States and other friendly countries, Marcos emerged as the most vocal critic of China ’s growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea while contending with an array of longstanding domestic issues, including inflation — and delayed fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring down the price of rice — as well as many reports of kidnappings and other crimes.

“This is not business as usual,” Marcos was cited as saying in a government statement. “The people have spoken and they expect results — not politics, not excuses. We hear them and we will act.”

Marcos called for the “courtesy resignation of all Cabinet secretaries in a decisive move to recalibrate his administration following the results of the recent elections,” the government statement said.

"The request for courtesy resignations is aimed at giving the president the elbow room to evaluate the performance of each department and determine who will continue to serve in line with his administration’s recalibrated priorities,” the government said.

At least 21 Cabinet secretaries led by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.

“This is not about personalities — it’s about performance, alignment and urgency,” Marcos said. “Those who have delivered and continue to deliver will be recognized. But we cannot afford to be complacent. The time for comfort zones is over.”

Government services will remain uninterrupted during the transition, the government said, adding that “with this bold reset, the Marcos administration signals a new phase — sharper, faster and fully focused on the people’s most pressing needs."

Five out of the 12 Senate seats contested in the mid-term elections were won by allies of Sara Duterte or her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been arrested and detained by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands. The elder Duterte, a staunch critic of Marcos, was accused of committing crimes against humanity over a brutal anti-drugs crackdown he launched that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

Marcos-endorsed senatorial candidates won five Senate seats while two other seats were unexpectedly won by two liberal democrats associated with the late former President Benigno Aquino III, whose family has long been at odds with the Marcoses.

Voting for half of the 24-member Senate is crucial because the government body will hold an impeachment trial for Sara Duterte in July over an array of criminal allegations, including corruption and a public threat to assassinate Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. She made those threats in an online news conference in November but later issued a vague denial that she wanted the president killed.

Sara Duterte is facing a separate criminal complaint for her threats against the Marcoses and Romualdez.

Most of the seats in the House were won by candidates allied with Marcos and his cousin, Romualdez, in the May 12 elections, which many saw as a preview to the presidential elections scheduled for 2028.