Turn down the political heat? It's them, not me, says Marcos

TOKYO, Japan — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Friday it is not up to him to turn down the political heat currently confronting his administration.

"The only persons who can turn down the political heat are the people who turn up the political heat in the first place," Marcos said.

"I have never turned up the political heat. I have never attacked anyone. I have never put down anyone. I have never declared war on any political group whatsoever. All I do is work," he added.

Asked to directly address and name those whom he said are raising the political heat, the President simply replied that there are many.

"That's the nature of politics. It is like a legal process, it is an adversarial process in many ways. And that's what happens," Marcos said.

Marcos, however, made the distinction between politicians and self-serving fault-finders whom he called "obstructionists."

"Mayroon diyan obstructionist. Walang ginawa kung hindi gustong manggulo. Lahat nang sabihin ng administrasyon, mali. Walang tama. (There are obstructionists. They don't do anything but sow chaos. For them, everything that the administration says is wrong.) Those are the obstructionists. And they are not working for the Filipino people. They are working for themselves. And that's why, again, they are the ones who need to decide to lower the political temperature," he said.

Marcos is marking his fourth year in office in a month, in what many might consider a politically tumultuous phase in his presidency.

He has been at odds with his former running mate, Vice President Sara Duterte, and has recently lost the majority bloc in the Senate amid a looming impeachment trial against his erstwhile ally.

The latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey shows his net satisfaction rating at negative 15, an all-time low. — VDV, GMA News