PBBM responds to threats made by VP Duterte
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would respond to what he termed as a “troubling” threat from Vice President Sara Duterte, who claimed she had ordered someone to assassinate the president if she was killed.
In a strongly-worded video message addressing the nation, Marcos said, “Such criminal plans should not be overlooked.”
While the President did not name Vice President Duterte, his presidential running mate in 2022, the message was simply addressed to Sara.
The daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said she had instructed an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and the parliament speaker if she was killed.
She was responding to a question during an online news conference about whether she feared for her safety. She did not cite any specific threat against her.
“The statements we heard in the previous days were troubling,” Marcos said.
“There is the reckless use of profanities and threats to kill some of us.”
“I will fight them,” he said, adding he would not allow such criminal attempts to pass.
According to a senior Department of Justice official, the vice president does not have immunity from prosecution.
Sara Duterte’s attack on Marcos also comes just weeks after the mercurial Rodrigo Duterte was the subject of a marathon congressional inquiry into thousands of killings during the so-called “war on drugs” that defined his presidency from 2016 to 2022.
During those hearings, the Marcos administration for the first time signalled it would cooperate with any international effort to arrest the former president, who is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible crimes against humanity.
