(UPDATE) SEN. Maria Imelda Josefa "Imee" Marcos said she will reach out to the Dutertes to salvage the UniTeam amid reports that it was being wracked by internal wrangling.

The UniTeam, short for Unity Team, is the election alliance forged by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte in 2002.

The partnership resulted in runaway victories for Marcos as president and Duterte as vice president.

Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa "Imee" Marcos PHOTO BY: RENE H. DILAN

On Thursday, Senator Marcos said she plans to have a dialogue with former president Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Duterte when she goes to Davao City on Friday.

In Davao, Marcos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, will continue hearings on reports that bribery, deception and other illegal activities were involved in collecting signatures for the people's initiative (PI) to pursue Charter change (Cha-cha).

The committee began its inquiry last January 30.

"That was my entire purpose to go to Davao, [to] attempt to speak to the Dutertes and of course with VP (Vice President [Sara]) Inday [Duterte] whom I haven't seen for a bit," she said.

"Let me be candid. I will do anything to salvage the UniTeam," Marcos said in a television interview on Thursday.

"It's very hard for me to accept that it would be ruined in little over a year. Remember, I am also apparently the author of the UniTeam," she said.

The senator said Sara Duterte has revealed that "I brought her in and convinced her to be the running mate of my brother."

"It's very, very clear that my effort was simply to try and patch things up because to my mind the principles continue to work with each other very happily except when interference from so many other pressures, influences, and other politicians come in. That's the problem," she said.

Marcos added: "I think saying that the Dutertes are now one against the Marcos administration is oversimplifying things a little bit."

Sara Duterte "has already issued a statement saying that she is grateful to the President for his support and continues to abide by the eight-point agenda," she said.

The senator also raised the need to pass a law establishing the legal framework for people's initiative.

In its decision on the case of Santiago vs Commission on Elections, the Supreme Court noted that the Initiative and Referendum Act (Republic Act 6736) is silent on people's initiative as a method for Charter change.

"Why don't we first make a law? Let's hammer together, craft, debate until we get a law and thereafter produce this people's initiative that is properly done," Marcos said.

She said the issue will be addressed next week during deliberations on Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6 which aims to amend the "restrictive" economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

On February 5, Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara will lead a Senate subcommittee that will tackle RBH 6.

Marcos said she envisioned a PI that includes consultation with the people and addresses issues that resonate with their concerns.

During the January 30 hearing, People's Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (Pirma) convenor Noel Oñate confirmed that Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and other congressmen helped Pirma gather signatures to push for Cha-cha.

On January 23, all 24 senators signed a manifesto denouncing what they said was a House attempt to violate the Constitution through people's initiative.

They opposed a suggested amendment requiring joint voting in a constituent assembly.

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