Philippine security agencies stepped up safety protocols on Saturday after Vice President Sara Duterte said she would have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assassinated if she herself were killed.
The Vice President said at a Press conference that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife, and the Speaker of the Philippine House, if she were to be
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,” the Vice President said in the briefing.
“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.
The Vice President did not cite any alleged threat against herself.
The Presidential Security Command said it had 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.
Police Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil said he had ordered an immediate investigation.
Marbil further said that “any direct or indirect threat to his 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.
However, the Vice President told reporters on Saturday afternoon: “Thinking and talking about it is different from actually doing it.’
“When that happens, there will be an investigation on my death. The investigation on their deaths will be next.”
Her strong comments probably will not dent her political support, said Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines.
“If anything, this type of rhetoric brings her even closer to what her father’s supporters liked about him.”
Speaker Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos, has slashed the vice presidential office’s budget by nearly two-thirds.
The Vice President’s outburst is the latest in a series of startling signs of the feud at the top of Philippine politics.
In October, she accused Marcos of incompetence and said she had imagined cutting the president’s head off.
The two families are at odds over issues including foreign policy and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.
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 country is gearing up for mid-term elections in May.
The elections will be 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.
Past political violence in the Philippines has included the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a senator who staunchly opposed the rule the elder Marcos.
