'We don't talk anymore,' Imee says of her brother

(UPDATE) SEN. Imee Marcos admitted in an interview on Saturday that she and her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., have not been in contact for a long time. "We don't talk anymore; it's been a long time," said the senator, who is a staunch defender of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has called her brother a drug addict. The senator said that she and her brother only have a chance to talk during public gatherings, but there are people around him who prevent them from talking privately. "Many around him block our conversation," the senator said. She also clarified that she has no grudge against her brother for not mentioning her name at a recent Alyansa rally in Cavite. The senator, who is running as an independent, has been absorbed into the administration's Alyansa roster anyway. "It's fine with me. There's no problem with that. It's okay because I'm focused on investigating the FPRRD's transfer from the Philippines to the Hague. Let's prioritize defending our sovereignty rather than politics and campaigns," the senator added. She emphasized that what is important to her is the extradition of a fellow Filipino who the government surrendered to a foreign institution abroad. "Despite the ongoing political campaigns, this issue is crucial for our countrymen, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and laws. This matter goes beyond former President Rodrigo Duterte; it concerns our nation's sovereignty," she said. In clear opposition to her brother, she described Duterte's arrest by the ICC as a case of "the Philippines becoming a province of The Hague." "They say the law should prevail. Right! But whose law? Ours or theirs? When did the Philippines become a province of The Hague?" the senator said in her opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's investigation on Thursday.