The threat to the president: Assassins are ready

  

Philippines

The threat to the president: Assassins are ready

John Edgar

Published 00.16

 
Quick version

• Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has expressed fear for her life and says she has hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and the Speaker if anything happens to her.
• The political tensions in the Philippines are described as extreme, with conflicts between the country's two major political clans, the Marcos family and the Duterte family, who previously ruled together.
• Sara Duterte faces potential impeachment charges for corruption, while her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, seeks continued political influence by running again for mayor of Davao City.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has hired an assassin for her own security. Photo: Basilio Sepe / AP

The vice president feels threatened by the president.

So now she has instructed an assassin to kill him and the wife if anything happens to her.

- It's no joke, says Sara Duterte.

Most political squabbles around the world appear kindergarten-level compared to the battle at the top in the Filippines.

The country's two major political clans – the Marcos family and the Duterte family – rule the country together.

And they don't agree.

Contract with assassins

At a press conference in Manila, Vice President Sara Duterte made the dramatic announcement. She says she fears for her life - and has now taken measures to prevent an attack.

Duterte announced that an assassin was ready to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife Liza Araneta.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and wife Liza Araneta. Photo: Ezra Acayan/AP

Even the President of the Philippines, Martin Romualdez, would agree if something happened to her.

- I have spoken to a person. I said “if I am killed, kill Marcos, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke, she said, according to Reuters.

- I said "don't stop before you kill them" and he said yes.

"Active threat"

During the press conference, Duterte also said that "the country is going to hell" because the Philippines is ruled by "a liar who doesn't know how to be president."

The President's Communications Department stated in a press release that "the Vice President has given clear and unambiguous notice that she has hired an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her is successful" and that the Security Department is now dealing with this "active threat."

Fighting caricatures of President Marcos and Vice President Duterte. The cooperation between the two clan heirs quickly deteriorated. Photo: Mark Cristino/AP

It was not her first more or less veiled death threat against the head of state. In October, she accused Marcos of incompetence and publicly fantasized about beheading him.

It was a strange duo that won the 2022 election.

Ferdinand Marcos with his wife Imelda, on the right Ferdinand Marcos jr. Photo: Alberto Marquez/AP

Called the Pope a whore

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is the son and namesake of the former president who ruled the Philippines with an iron fist and died in exile in 1989.

Sara Duterte is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte. He was called the "Trump of Asia", boasted of hiring "death squads" to execute gangsters and called the Pope "a whore".

Rodrigo Duterte was called the "Trump of Asia" Photo: King Rodriguez / AP

Many were initially doubtful about the appropriateness of both clan heirs sitting in the government together. And their collaboration quickly degenerated.

It started in January when Duterte called Marcos a "junkie".

Duterte resigned from the post of education minister in the cabinet last summer, but has retained the vice president post.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s staff claims to be dealing with Sara Duterte's "active threat". Photo: Sakchai Lalit / AP

Risks impeachment

Since then, Speaker Romualdez, a cousin of President Marcos, has cut the budget for her staff by two-thirds, writes Reuters.

In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected in separate elections.

While the daughter is inciting the Marcos family, father Rodrigo Duterte, 79, is entering politics again. After his scandal-filled years as president, he wants to once again become mayor of his hometown, Davao City.

According to political analysts in the Philippines, the motive is to increase the influence and support of his family against the Marcos clan, writes CNN.

Sara Duterte has been accused of corruption and is at risk of impeachment.