Marcos drops Dutertes from key Philippine security body

A new presidential order strips Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, of membership on the Philippines’ top security body, amid a feud between the country’s two most powerful political clans that has blown wide open.

Executive Order No. 81, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed on Monday but was released to the media on Friday, removes the holder of the office of vice president and all former presidents as members of the National Security Council (NSC). The body advises the incumbent president on all security-related matters and policies. 

The document did not specifically name the Dutertes, who had teamed up with Marcos in the 2022 general election that brought him to power. But in effect, Sara and Rodrigo Duterte will no longer have direct access to the leadership of the country’s military and police forces.

Marcos’ chief aide, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, said the move was meant to “streamline the membership” of the council. 

He said the vice president, Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 national elections, was not “relevant to the responsibilities of membership” in the council, which also includes key cabinet, defense, and legislative officials as members.

Reconstituting the council was necessary to improve “the formulation of policies relating to national security so that actions and decisions thereon by the Presidents rests on sound advice and accurate information,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a statement. 

Established in 1950, the NSC has undergone several changes under various administrations. The latest reorganization came amid an ongoing investigation over Sara Duterte’s alleged threat to assassinate Marcos, his spouse, and his cousin.

The council’s composition depends solely on the president’s discretion under the Administration Code of 1987, Año said.

“Pursuant to this authority, previous presidents have reorganized the composition of the NSC to meet the president’s requirements and changing conditions,” he said.

In November, Sara Duterte said she wasn’t invited to a meeting by the council and demanded an explanation. She also demanded that Año’s office send her all notarized minutes of council meetings dating to June 2022.

“I want to review what the council has accomplished so far, in terms of policies and recommendations for national security,” she said in a statement.

Ironically, her father, as president, had also asked his then-vice president, opposition leader Leni Robredo, to stop attending NSC meetings.

Robredo was initially tasked to co-head the government’s anti-drugs council but was sacked by President Duterte for calling him out on many killings associated with his administration’s war on narcotics. Robredo then was subsequently barred from attending NSC meetings.

Rift between Marcos, Duterte families

The rift between the Marcos and Duterte families began in the second half of last year amid growing pressure on the government to allow an international investigation into Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, which left thousands dead. 

The House of Representatives then opened an investigation into the alleged budgetary misuse by Sara Duterte’s office in her roles as vice president and education secretary – a cabinet post she held under Marcos until she quit in June.

The vice president’s resignation from the cabinet sealed the collapse of an alliance between the Marcoses and Dutertes, whose partnership led to a rout of the opposition led by Robredo in the 2022 polls. 

The president and vice president are elected separately in the Philippines, as a checks-and-balances mechanism in a country that suffered heavily under the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the current president’s late father. The administration of the elder Marcos (1965-1986) was accused of massive plunder and the deaths of thousands of activists and members of the opposition.

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Sara Duterte currently faces three impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives for alleged violations of the constitution and corruption. She has denied any wrongdoing.

In November, the vice president publicly divulged that she had hired someone to target Marcos, his spouse and his cousin – the current House Speaker Martin Romualdez – for assassination should she herself be killed in a plot against her. She later said her statement was taken out of context.

Also that month, her father called on the military to protect the Constitution from what he described as “fractured governance” under the current administration.

“Nobody can correct Marcos. Nobody can correct [House Speaker Martin] Romualdez. There is no urgent remedy. It is only the military who can correct it,” Rodrigo Duterte said at a news conference.

“Until when will you support an addict president? I challenge the whole military because they’re supposed to be the protectors of the Constitution,” the ex-president said, although he did not specifically call for a coup d’état against his successor.

In response, the Office of the Executive Secretary condemned the former leader for his remarks.

“No motive is more selfish than calling for a sitting president to be overthrown so that your daughter can take over. And he will go to great and evil lengths, such as insulting our professional armed forces by asking them to betray their oath, for his plan to succeed,” it said in a statement.