FILE PHOTOS: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — The statement of Vice President Sara Duterte that she hired a person to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is an “active threat,” Malacañang said Saturday.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement Saturday that Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has referred the matter to the Presidential Security Command “for immediate proper action.”
On Friday night, Duterte said in an online press conference that she had already talked to a person whom she instructed to kill Marcos, his wife Liza, and cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez if she is killed.
“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,” the Palace 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,” it added.
READ: House orders transfer of VP Duterte’s aide to women’s prison
Duterte’s press conference was held jointly with her chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, who was initially ordered detained at the House of Representatives after being held in contempt during a hearing of a House panel that has been probing into alleged misuse of public funds with the Office of the Vice President under Duterte.
Duterte has since gone to the Batasang Pambansa Complex to visit Lopez, but she eventually opted to spend the night. Later, she declared that she would stay in the office of her brother, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, “indefinitely” as she vowed to protect her staff.
“May kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, ‘Kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez.’ No joke, no joke. Nagbilin na ako,” the vice president, who ran in tandem with Marcos in the 2022 elections under the “UniTeam” alliance, said during the online press conference.
(I already talked to a person. I told the person, ‘If they kill me, kill Bongbong Marcos, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez.’ No joke, no joke. I’ve left instructions.)
Lopez was later ordered transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. But Duterte, who said she would stand as a lawyer of her chief of staff, blocked Lopez’s transfer to the women’s prison facility.