Philippine V-P says she would have Marcos assassinated if she were killed

MANILA – Philippine security agencies stepped up safety protocols on Nov 23 after Vice-President Sara Duterte said she would have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assassinated if she were killed.

In a dramatic sign of a widening rift between the two most powerful political families in the nation, Ms Duterte said at an early morning press conference that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill Mr Marcos, his wife and the Speaker of the Philippine House if she were killed.

“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,” she said in the profanity-laden briefing. Mr Marcos’ nickname is Bongbong.

“I said, do not stop until you kill them and then he said yes.”

She was responding to an online commenter urging her to stay safe, saying she was in enemy territory as she was at the lower chamber of Congress overnight with her chief of staff. Ms Duterte did not cite any alleged threat against herself.

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 added in a statement.

Police chief Rommel Francisco Marbil said he has ordered an immediate investigation, adding that “any direct or indirect threat to (the President’s) life must be addressed with the highest level of urgency”.

The Presidential Communications Office said any threat to the life of the president must always be taken seriously.

Ms Duterte’s strong comments probably will not dent her political support, said political science professor Jean Encinas-Franco of the University of the Philippines.

“If anything, this type of rhetoric brings her even closer to what her father’s supporters liked about him.”

The daughter of Mr Marcos’ predecessor resigned from the Cabinet in June while remaining Vice-President. This

signalled the collapse of a formidable political alliance

that helped her and Mr Marcos, son and namesake of the late authoritarian leader, secure their 2022 electoral victories by wide margins.

Speaker Romualdez, a cousin of Mr Marcos, has slashed the budget of the Office of the Vice-President by nearly two-thirds.

Ms Duterte’s outburst is the latest in a series of startling signs of the feud at the top of Philippine politics. In October, she accused Mr Marcos of incompetence and said she had imagined cutting the President’s head off.

The two families are at odds over foreign policy and former president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs, among other things.

In the Philippines, the vice-president is elected separately from the president and has no official duties. Many vice-presidents have pursued social development activities while some have been appointed to Cabinet posts.

The nation is gearing up for midterm elections in May, seen as a litmus test of Mr Marcos’ popularity and a chance for him to consolidate power and groom a successor before his single six-year term ends in 2028.

Past political violence in the Philippines has included the assassination of Mr Benigno Aquino, a senator who staunchly opposed the rule of the elder Marcos, as he exited his plane upon arrival home from political exile in 1983. REUTERS