The Dutertes and the Marcos between controversy and bullets
The feud between the two political dynasties of the Philippines (allies in the last election) have reached an unprecedented level of verbal violence. Vice President Sara Duterte has threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. killed if she is herself eliminated. According to experts, the daughter of the former president, whose approval ratings are rising, is already looking ahead to next year’s midterm elections.
Manila (AsiaNews) – The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has subpoenaed Vice President Sara Duterte after she threatened to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, Liza Araneta-Marcos, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Martin Romualdez, if she herself was killed. The NBI took this step today to allow her "to explain her position regarding alleged threats to her own life".
Last Saturday, at an online press conference, while not mentioning any specific threat against herself, the vice president said that she would hire an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Romualdez, if she herself were murdered.
Yesterday Marcos said that he would respond to what he called "reckless and troubling threats" against him. While not naming Vice President Duterte, he used strong language to say that he would not take this kind of criminal threat lightly.”
Today former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara's father, called on the Philippine military to protect the Constitution and correct what he calls "fractured governance”:
“In the face of so many errors there… it is only the military who can correct it,” Duterte added during a live broadcast on SMNI News Facebook page, without going so far as to call for a coup d'état.
What is unfolding is a remarkable turn as tensions rise between the two families, who were political allies before Marcos’s election in 2022.
These two political dynasties come from geographically opposite electoral fiefdoms: in the North (Ilocos Norte) for the Marcos and the South (the large city of Davao on Mindanao Island) for the Duterte.
Various observers note that for Sara Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, it will be hard to move away from her father's methods of exercising power, which played a major role in their political success. The International Criminal Court is currently investigating the senior Duterte for his brutal war on drugs when he was president (2016-2022).
Now she wants, according to experts, to capitalise on the drop in support for Marcos ahead of midterm elections in May next year, and has continued to gain greater confidence and higher approval ratings.
For their part, the authorities have expressed concern about her remarks and President Marcos has given the green light to numerous investigations, now that he no longer seems to need the Duterte family.
Unable to run for re-election, Rodrigo Duterte gave way to his daughter, who decided to support Marcos as his running mate, abandoning the race for the presidency. However, she too is under investigation for misuse of government funds (She was forced to resign in June from the post of Education secretary).
Following the controversy caused by her remarks, she tried to explain them, noting that they were part of a broader speech, but she did not deny making them.
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