Philippine security agencies have reported that they are expanding their safety protocols after Vice President Sara Duterte stated at an early morning press conference on Saturday that she would have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assassinated if she herself were killed.
Duterte said that she had spoken to an assassin herself and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife, and the speaker of the Philippine House, if she were to be murdered.
“I have talked to a person. I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta, and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke,” Duterte said during the verbally explicit briefing. “I said, do not stop until you kill them, and then he said yes.”
She stated this in response to an online commenter urging her to stay safe, saying she was in enemy territory while she was at the lower chamber of Congress overnight with her chief of staff, yet she did not cite any specific alleged threat against herself.
Duterte’s comments signal a widening tension between the Philippines’ most powerful political families, as they hold opposing views on foreign policy and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which resulted in thousand of suspects being killed in controversial police operations now being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
In October, Duterte accused Marcos of incompetence and said she had imagined cutting the president’s head off.
In response to Duterte’s comments, The Presidential Communications Office said any threat to the life of the president must always be taken seriously, while the Presidential Security Command said it has heightened and strengthened security protocols. “We are also closely coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil said he had ordered an immediate investigation, adding that “any direct or indirect threat to his life must be addressed with the highest level of urgency”.
However, on Saturday afternoon Duterte told reporters she remains unintimidated, “Thinking and talking about it is different from actually doing it,” adding there was already a threat to her life. “When that happens, there will be an investigation on my death. The investigation on their deaths will be next.”
In the Philippines, the vice president is elected separately from the president and has no official duties, however, many vice presidents have pursued social development activities, while some have been appointed to cabinet posts. Duterte, who is the daughter of Marcos’ predecessor, resigned from the Marcos cabinet in June while remaining vice president, signaling the fallout of a previously strong political alliance that helped her and Marcos, who is the son of another former president, secure their 2022 electoral victories by wide margins.
The country’s midterm elections are set to be held in May, where Marcos’ popularity will be tested while he has the chance to strengthen his power and a select a successor for when his six-year term ends in 2028.
