MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte said that her remarks about threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez in a hypothetical scenario where she is "killed" should not be considered a threat.
Duterte made this statement during a press conference on Saturday, November 23, comparing her “assassination threat” to a hypothetical pronouncement about exhuming the body of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and throwing it into the West Philippine Sea.
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“I don't think the volume was low during the Zoom press conference. I said, 'If I die.' That means in the first place, there was a threat against me. But they simply do not care that I am also concerned about my security because I hear things," Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“Talking about doing it is not actionable,” she added.
It can be recalled that Duterte made her "assassination" remark during a virtual press conference in the early hours of November 23, as she criticized the House of Representatives' decision to transfer her chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, from the House detention facility to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
In response to Duterte’s remarks, the Presidential Communications Office said that the Executive Secretary had referred the “active threat” to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action.
“Any threat to the life of the President and the First Family, regardless of its origin—and especially one made so brazenly in public—is treated with the utmost seriousness. We consider this a matter of national security and shall take all necessary measures to ensure the President's safety,” the Presidential Security Command’s statement read.
In a separate statement on Sunday, November 24, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said that “any and all threats” to the president's security are considered “threats to national security.”
“We shall be closely coordinating with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate the nature of the threat, the possible perpetrators, and their motives. We shall do our utmost in defense of our democratic institutions and processes which the President represents,” Año’s statement read.
“We underscore that the safety of the President is a non-partisan issue, and we stand united in our commitment to upholding the integrity of the office and the democratic institutions that govern our great nation,” he added.
Philstar.com has reached out to the Department of Justice regarding the possible implications of Duterte’s remarks against the president, first lady and House speaker, but has not yet received a response.