Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte revealed on Saturday that she had hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were to be assassinated.

In her statement, she warned that her threat was ?not a joke.?

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin classified the remarks as an ?active threat? against the president and referred the matter to the Presidential Security Command for immediate action.

?Acting on the vice president?s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the president if an alleged plot against her succeeds, the Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action,? a government statement said.

?Any threat to the life of the president must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms,? the statement added.

Duterte and Marcos, who ran on a joint ticket during the May 2022 elections and won by landslide margins, have since experienced a significant falling-out. Their differences include conflicting approaches to China?s assertiveness in the South China Sea. Duterte resigned from her Cabinet posts as education secretary and head of an anti-insurgency body in June, further escalating tensions between the two leaders.

Like her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president has become a vocal critic of Marcos, his wife, and Speaker Romualdez. She has accused them of corruption, incompetence, and political persecution against her family and close allies.

Her latest outburst came after allies of Romualdez and Marcos in the House of Representatives detained her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez. Lopez faced accusations of obstructing a congressional inquiry into the alleged misuse of Duterte?s budget during her tenure as vice president and education secretary.

Lopez, who was later transferred to a hospital after falling ill, reportedly broke down in tears upon learning she might be detained in a women?s prison.

In a fiery, expletive-filled pre-dawn online news conference, Duterte criticised Marcos, his wife, and Romualdez, accusing them of lying and incompetence. When asked about threats to her safety, she alleged there was a plot to kill her and described her contingency plan.

?Don?t worry about my security because I?ve talked with somebody. I said, ?If I?m killed, you?ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke,?? Duterte said, using the president?s commonly used initials. She continued,

?I?ve given my order, ?If I die, don?t stop until you?ve killed them.? And he said, ?yes.??

Under Philippine law, such public threats may be punishable by imprisonment and a fine for threatening harm to a person or their family.

Sara Duterte is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose controversial anti-drugs crackdown left thousands dead during his time as mayor of Davao City and later as president. The International Criminal Court is investigating the crackdown as a potential crime against humanity.

While the elder Duterte has denied authorising extrajudicial killings, he admitted in a recent Senate inquiry to maintaining a ?death squad? composed of gangsters to target criminals during his tenure as Davao City mayor. (AriseNews TV: Text, Excluding Headline)

Update news