Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte speaks to the media at the House of Representatives, in Quezon City, Philippines, November 25, 2024. ELOISA LOPEZ / REUTERS Nothing is going well between Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos junior, son of the ex-dictator Marcos died in 1989, and his vice-president, Sara Duterte, 46 years old, daughter of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022). Their quarrel took a somewhat alarming turn on the night of Friday to Saturday, November 23 when Ms. Duterte, during an online press briefing, responded to a vlogger worried about her: “Don’t worry about my safety because I already spoke to someone. I told him that if I got killed, I had to kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. I’m not kidding, I’m not kidding,” she fumed. BBM designates President “Bongbong” Marcos, Liza Araneta his wife, and Martin Romualdez, his cousin, president of the National Assembly. The vice-president therefore claims to have arranged for a hitman to take revenge against these three personalities if she herself were assassinated. Today at loggerheads, the two families were once close allies: Bongbong Marcos was elected in 2022 thanks to the popularity of his predecessor, the populist Duterte (Philippine presidents are only entitled to one mandate), who placed his daughter alongside him as vice-president. But this understanding quickly disintegrated. The Dutertes are in dire straits: the father, still the target of an investigation by the International Criminal Court for his “war on drugs”, has been the subject of a commission of inquiry in the House of Representatives since November 13. Her daughter has been heard since September by another House investigative committee for embezzlement as vice-president – after having been heard in 2023 for embezzlement as secretary of education, a position from which she resigned. These procedures could lead to his “impeachment” after a vote in Congress, on the American model. It is in this context that Ms. Duterte’s “exit” took place. The vice-president, who describes herself as the victim of a cabal aimed at torpedoing her chances in the next presidential elections in 2028, has refused for weeks to take part in interrogations and even to take an oath before the deputies. Those around him are also obstructive. To the point that on November 20, the Assembly’s Good Governance Committee, which heard its chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, ordered her placement in detention in the House of Representatives for “abusive obstruction of procedures.” The next day, November 21, Ms. Duterte moved into the office of her brother, a member of parliament, in Parliament, to support her chief of staff. However, on Friday November 22 at the end of the day, the deputies ordered the transfer of Ms. Lopez to a women’s prison… You have 42.19% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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