MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he cannot cut ties with the Marcos family, even as he has been criticized for admiring the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Speaking at an event in Makati City, Duterte said Marcos’ daughter, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, was among the local government officials who supported him in his presidential campaign.

“Sino sa inyo ang nagsuporta sa akin? Ilan lang? Four, five, six?” Duterte asked the audience composed of local government officials.

“Wala akong barangay captain, congressman. Wala akong pera. Si Imee pa ang nagbigay, sabi niya inutang daw niya. Imee supported me.”

[Who among you supported me? How many? Four, five, six? No barangay captain supported me, congressmen. I had no money. Imee gave some. She said she loaned it. Imee supported me.]

Duterte said his father Vicente once served as a Cabinet member of the late president.

“My father was one of the two who stood by Marcos in his darkest hours. Everybody was shifting to the Liberal [Party] at the time, kay Diosdado Macapagal, and it was only [former Zamboanga del Sur Governor Bienvenido] Ebarle and my father who stood by Marcos,” he said.

“That is why when he won, my father was one of the Cabinet members of Marcos. So iyan ang ano namin, I cannot really dissociate [myself].”

Duterte's decision to allow the burial of the Marcos patriarch at the Libingan ng mga Bayani has also divided the nation.

Those opposing the burial has asked the Supreme Court to block it.