Could Philippine VP Sara Duterte’s threats against Marcos be a ‘ploy’?

The vice-president’s backtracking of her comment about hiring an assassin to kill Marcos Jnr is linked to midterm elections, analysts say

Reading Time:4 minutes

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte talks to reporters in Quezon City on Monday. Photo: AP

Published: 3:30pm, 26 Nov 2024Updated: 6:19pm, 26 Nov 2024

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr about hiring an assassin to kill him and his family could be what observers say is a calculated move to mobilise her family’s support base as the feud between the two political clans continues to escalate.

“The threats and public statements could be a deliberate ploy to assert dominance and rally her base using tried and tested populist rhetoric identified with the Duterte family – by portraying herself as an embattled leader fighting against powerful adversaries,” Cleve Arguelles, a political scientist and president of independent polling firm WR Numero, told This Week in Asia.

The vice-president launched into a tirade during an online press conference on Friday when she said that she had hired an assassin to kill the president as well as his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and his cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, should an assassination plot against her succeed, warning that her remark was “no joke”.

Duterte-Carpio called the briefing after her Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez was detained by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Lopez was cited in contempt for allegedly interfering in a parliamentary investigation into the misuse of confidential and intelligence funds amounting to 612.5 million Philippine pesos (US$10.4 million) from the Office of the Vice-President (OVP) and the Department of Education, both under Duterte-Carpio’s oversight.

“No joke. No joke. I have already made a deal. When I die, I told [that person] do not stop until you kill them all. And then he said yes,” Duterte-Carpio said on Friday.

Marcos Jnr immediately responded with a strongly worded statement in a recorded video message. Without naming Duterte-Carpio, Marcos said that “such criminal plans should not be overlooked”.