Philippines steps up security after Vice President assassination threat against president

With Neil Jerome Moralesof Reuters

In August, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (file photo).
Photograph: AFP/ Pool – Lisa Marie David

Philippine security agencies have stepped up security protocols after Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would be assassinated if he was killed.

In a dramatic sign of a widening rift between the two most powerful political families in the Southeast Asian country, Duterte said at an early morning news conference that he spoke to an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife and the conference’s speaker. If he were to be killed, the Philippine House.

“I talked to one person. I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), (First Lady) Liza Araneta, and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. It’s not a joke. It’s not a joke,” Duterte said. full briefing. “I said don’t stop until I kill them, and then he said yes.”

He responded to an online commenter urging him to stay safe, saying he was in enemy territory because he and his chief of staff had spent the night in the lower chamber of Congress. Duterte did not mention any alleged threats against him.

The Presidential Security Command said security protocols have been increased and strengthened. “We also coordinate closely with law enforcement to detect, deter and defend against any threats to the president and the first family,” the statement said.

Police Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil said he had ordered an immediate investigation, adding that “any direct or indirect threat to his life must be treated with the highest level of urgency.”

The Presidential Communications Office said any threat to the president’s life should always be taken seriously.

But “thinking and talking about it is different from actually doing it,” Duterte told reporters Saturday afternoon, adding that his life was already under threat. “Then there will be an investigation into my death. Next will be an investigation into their deaths.”

political support

University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Encinas-Franco said his strong comments likely won’t weaken his political support. “In fact, such rhetoric brings him closer to what his father’s supporters love about him.”

Duterte, the daughter of Marcos’s predecessor as president, resigned from Marcos’ cabinet in June while remaining as vice president; It signaled the collapse of an uneasy political alliance that helped him and the late authoritarian leader’s son and namesake, Marcos, secure 2022 elections. victories by wide margins.

Speaker Romualdez, Marcos’ cousin, cut the vice presidential budget by nearly two-thirds.

Duterte’s outburst is the latest in a series of surprising signs of a fight at the top of Philippine politics. In October, he accused Marcos of incompetence and said he dreamed of beheading the president.

The two families are at odds over issues such as 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. While many vice presidents carry out social development activities, some have been appointed to cabinet posts.

The country is preparing for midterm elections in May, which are seen as a litmus test for Marcos’ popularity and a chance to consolidate power and prepare his successor before his six-year term ends in 2028.

Past incidents of political violence in the Philippines include the killing of senator Benigno Aquino, a staunch opponent of the elder Marcos’ rule, as he stepped off his plane upon arriving home from political exile in 1983.

– Reuters