Philippines Marcos Vows To Respond After VP’s Assassination Threat

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos vowed on Monday to fight back against what he called reckless and troubling threats against him, speaking out after his estranged vice president said he would be assassinated if she herself were killed.

In a strongly-worded video message addressing the nation, Marcos did not name Vice President Sara Duterte, his presidential running mate, but said “such criminal plans should not be overlooked”.

The dramatic twist in the fierce spat between Marcos and the powerful Duterte family, the daughter of firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday she had instructed an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and the lower house speaker, in the event that she were killed.

She was responding to a question during an online press conference about whether she feared for her safety. She did not cite any specific threat against her.

“The statements we heard in the previous days were troubling,” Marcos said on Monday. “There is the reckless use of profanities and threats to kill some of us.”

“I will fight them,” he said, adding he would not allow such criminal attempts to pass.

“If planning the assassination of the president is that easy, how much more for ordinary citizens?” he said.

“The whole nation fought back when their family killed Benigno Aquino Jr.,” Duterte told reporters. The elder Marcos denied involvement in Aquino’s killing.

Duterte Under Scrutiny

Sara Duterte’s stunning remarks were the latest salvo in an bitter row that has intensified since the collapse of a formidable alliance between their two powerful families in which the younger Marcos won the 2022 election by a huge margin.

According to a senior justice department official, the vice president does not have immunity from prosecution and she would be summoned to appear at National Bureau of Investigation over the threats she made. Duterte said she would comply.

“This is a serious threat, a very, very bad precedent for our country if we will not take legal action on these kinds of threat coming from a very high ranking official,” Justice Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres told a press conference.

“The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind will now face legal consequences,” Andres said, adding Duterte would obviously benefit if Marcos is harmed because she is next in line to take over the presidency.

Sara Duterte’s attack on Marcos came just weeks after the mercurial Rodrigo Duterte was the subject of marathon enquiries in the house and Senate into thousands of killings during the notorious “war on drugs” that defined his 2016-2022 presidency.

Reuters/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma