Philippine vice president says she would have Marcos assassinated if she is killed

Manila, Philippines Reuters —

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said on Saturday she would have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assassinated if she herself were killed, prompting Marcos’ office to vow “immediate proper action.”

In a dramatic sign of a widening rift between the two most powerful political families in the Southeast Asian nation, Duterte told an early morning press conference that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife and the speaker of the Philippine House if she were to be killed.

“I have talked to a person. I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta, and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke,” Duterte said in the profanity-laden briefing. “I said, do not stop until you kill them and then he said yes.”

She was responding to an online commenter urging her to stay safe, saying she was in enemy territory as she was at the lower chamber of Congress overnight with her chief of staff. Duterte did not cite any alleged threat against herself.

“This country is going to hell because we are led by a person who doesn’t know how to be a president and who is a liar,” she said in the briefing.

On Sunday, a top official said the Philippines’ security council will verify the alleged assassination threat by Duterte, describing it as a “matter of national security.”

National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said the government considers all threats to the president as “serious,” vowing to closely work with law enforcement and intelligence communities to investigate the threat and possible perpetrators.

“Any and all threats against the life of the president shall be validated and considered a matter of national security,” Ano said in a statement.