Palace: VP’s ‘kill’ remark is active threat

MANILA, Philippines — Security detail for President Marcos has been put on alert over an “active threat” against his life by Vice President Sara Duterte, Malacañang said yesterday.

“Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement relayed through the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

The statement followed an expletive-laced press conference in which Duterte alleged she was the subject of an assassination plot and that she ordered a member of her security team to kill the President should it succeed.

The Duterte and Marcos families have seen their alliance unravel in spectacular fashion in recent months, trading accusations of drug addiction and increasingly extreme rhetoric ahead of next year’s midterm elections and presidential polls in 2028.

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

“I already talked to a person in my security. I told him if I get killed, kill BBM (Ferdinand Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta and (the President’s cousin and Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke,” Duterte said at a press conference that began after midnight. “I said, if I die, don’t stop until you have killed them.”

She was responding to an online commenter urging her to stay safe, saying she was in enemy territory as she was at the premises of the House of Representatives with her detained chief of staff Zuleika Lopez.

Lopez was having her own virtual briefing when Duterte took over. “This country is going to hell because we are led by a person who doesn’t know how to be a president and who is a liar,” Duterte said at her briefing.

Hours later, the PCO said “this active threat (has been referred) to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action.” Duterte’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the PCO statement. Under the Philippine penal code, such public remarks may constitute a crime of threatening to inflict a wrong on a person or his family and is punishable by a jail term and fine.

Heightened alert

The PSC said it is under “heightened and strengthened” protocols. “Pursuant to the directive of the Executive Secretary, the Presidential Security Command (PSC) has its 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.

“Any threat to the life of the President and the First Family, regardless of its origin—and especially one made so brazenly in public—is treated with the utmost seriousness. We consider this a matter of national security and shall take all necessary measures to ensure the President’s safety,” it added.

Duterte is facing the threat of impeachment in the House of Representatives, led by Marcos’ cousin Romualdez, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028. The House of Representatives led by Romualdez has slashed the Office of the Vice President’s budget by nearly two-thirds.

She has also had a messy falling out with the President’s wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, who had accused her of laughing at a January event where her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, accused Marcos of being a “drug addict.”

Duterte called her late-night press conference after House officials said they would transfer her chief of staff – detained after being cited for contempt – from the chamber’s detention center to a correctional facility.

Lopez was ordered detained by the House committee on good government and public accountability on Wednesday after being accused of “undue interference” in committee proceedings focused on Duterte’s spending of her confidential funds.

AFP chief ‘sleeping’

At her press conference, Duterte also called out Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. for “sleeping so soundly” when the first couple and the Speaker were “taking millions of taxpayer money for their own pleasures.” It was not clear what message she was trying to relay to the military chief.

She accused Marcos and his wife of “putting undue pressure” on her people at the OVP.

“During the campaign I talked to businessmen if the President’s promise for P20 per kilo of rice is possible, they said no,” Duterte said.

“It’s either he did not know what he’s talking about––that’s so incompetent––or that he was lying through his teeth to get the votes of the people,” she added, while spewing invectives.

The Vice President claimed it was the First Lady who orchestrated a cash envelope distribution scheme at the Department of Education.

“You’ve been grilling my people because of those envelopes. Liza Marcos, you sent me a video message asking me where we would get the money and you showed the person’s face in the video message,” Duterte said, without identifying the person.

“You sent me written instructions about money, millions a month. Anong nakalagay sa envelope?! (What’s indicated in the envelope?) DepEd! Anong ginawa ko?! Binigay ko sa DepEd,” she said addressing the First Lady. “You don’t have a government post and yet you’re giving away government funds, then you’re going to tarnish the name of my people at the OVP?!” a visibly enraged Duterte said.

She also accused lawmakers of “making it appear that the envelopes were from the confidential funds.”

“I was trying to restrain myself because I needed to work. I just wanted you to finish your (#@&%) show at the House of Representatives so we can go back to work,” she said. Duterte said congressmen “go along with the show” during hearings because “they need money for elections.”

The Speaker, she claimed, was plundering taxpayers’ money and enriching himself through illegal business interests in illegal drugs and in Philippine offshore gaming operators, which the President banned earlier this year.

She taunted Romualdez for aspiring to be president in an election that she claimed he would never win.

“You may remove me from the presidential race, you still won’t win. No one will vote for you because you buy, harass and order kidnappings against your opponents. No one will vote for you, not even for senator, vice president or president,” she said.

“I don’t even know if you will win (reelection) in Tacloban. It appears you won’t. Who in the whole Philippines would want you back in Congress?” she said.

Bribes

Earlier, former and current DepEd officials accused Duterte at several House committee hearings of handing out envelopes of cash. Lawmakers expressed suspicion the cash came from confidential funds and used to bribe officials to skirt procurement guidelines.

Duterte stepped down from the Cabinet post of education secretary in June as relations between the two families reached breaking point.

Months earlier, her father had accused Marcos of being an addict, with the President the next day claiming his predecessor’s health was failing due to long-term use of the powerful opioid fentanyl. Neither provided evidence to their allegations.

In October, Duterte said she felt “used” after teaming with Marcos for the May 2022 election, which they won by a landslide. Duterte remains the constitutional successor to the 67-year-old president.

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 Marcos’ popularity and a chance for him to consolidate power and groom a successor before his single six-year term ends in 2028.