MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday claimed that Speaker Martin Romualdez is the only person who would want to kill her.
Duterte made the pronouncement when she narrated her stay at the House of Representatives while her chief of staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez is currently in the custody of the Congress’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
The vice president is staying “indefinitely” at her brother Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte’s office to allow herself to visit Lopez.
According to Duterte, she met with the House Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas, who she said told her to leave the premises as the lower chamber would have to increase security for her to ensure her safety.
READ: VP Duterte ignores request to leave House after visiting chief of staff
“Sabi niya [na] baka may mangyari sa’kin sa loob, [pero ang] sabi ko: ‘Sir, isa lang naman ang gustong pumatay sa’kin, si Martin Romualdez, and I don’t think gagawin niya sa’kin ‘yan dito sa loob ng House of Representatives; gagawin niya ‘yan sa labas,'” she said in an online press conference.
(He said that something might happen to me inside, but I said: Sir, there’s only one person who wants to kill me—Martin Romualdez. And I don’t think he’d do it here inside the House of Representatives; he’d do it outside.)
When asked to expound why she thinks that way of Romualdez, Duterte responded that she already learned what kind of person the Speaker was after getting to know him.
“For the short time na nagkasama kami, I’m a good judge of character. Nagkasama kami sa kampanya, and I’m no psychologist pero that man has so much baggage and insecurities sa buhay niya,” she said.
(For the short time we were together, I’d say I’m a good judge of character. We worked together during the campaign, and while I’m no psychologist, that man carries a lot of baggage and insecurities in his life.)
INQUIRER.net has sought a comment from Romualdez’s camp but has yet to receive a response as of writing.