Philippine president’s office: VP Duterte could be prosecuted for threats to Marcos

The feud between Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice-President Sara Duterte has taken an astonishing turn with Marcos vowing to “fight back” after his No. 2 openly warned that he would be assassinated should she be targeted and killed.  

Duterte’s public threats made over the weekend were being investigated, and if the evidence warranted it, she could be prosecuted, the Presidential Communications Office said, citing the Philippine justice department.

President Marcos did not name his vice-president in a video conveying his response to her threats, but he termed as “reckless” what he said were threatening statements that endangered the Philippines’ leadership.

“The statements we heard in the previous days were troubling. There is the reckless use of profanities and threats to kill some of us,” Marcos said in his video message on Monday.

“I will fight back,” he said, adding that “such criminal” statements must not be ignored.

“If it’s that easy to plan the assassination of a president, how much [easier to plan against] ordinary citizens,” Marcos said. 

The Marcos and Duterte families had joined hands in an alliance to win the general election two years ago, but the partnership ended acrimoniously amid pressure on the government to allow an international investigation into the drug war waged by Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father.

Duterte on Saturday said in an online press briefing that she had hired “someone” to eliminate Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez, in the event that she might be assassinated.

“No joke,” Sara Duterte said.

Vice President Duterte later tried to walk back her remarks, saying they were hypothetical.

In a statement Monday, she said that her remarks had been “maliciously taken out of logical context.”

The vice-president’s threats came after Zuleika Lopez, her chief of staff,  was detained for contempt by the House.

The House good government committee said it had found that Lopez was trying to hamper an inquiry into the vice-president’s alleged misuse of 125 million pesos (U.S. $2.12 million) from her budget as the VP and former education secretary.

On Saturday, the Presidential Security Command issued a statement saying it had “heightened and strengthened its security protocols.”

“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,” the statement said.

“We consider this a matter of national security and shall take all necessary measures to ensure the president’s safety.”

‘Not a normal statement’

On Monday, House Speaker Romualdez described the threats made by the vice-president as “both alarming and unprecedented.”

“Let me be clear. This is no longer a joke. This is not a normal statement,” he said in a speech. 

“This is a threat to our democracy, to our government, and the security of our nation.”

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said it would subpoena Vice President Duterte as part of an investigation into her remarks at the press conference where she made the threats against Marcos.

The NBI is the investigating arm of the justice department.

The Vice President would be asked “to appear within five days from today” to explain her remarks, NBI Director Jaime Santiago said.

Were Duterte to ignore the subpoena, the bureau would commence its investigation using any legal evidence it had, Santiago said.

“Any and all threats against the life of the president shall be validated and considered a matter of national security,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a statement on Sunday. 

“We underscore that the safety of the President is a non-partisan issue.”

Gerard Carreon in Manila contributed to this report.