The ongoing conflict between the camps of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice-President Sara Duterte now appears to be a fight to the bitter end.
The escalating tensions may leave Marcos with no choice but to strike a decisive blow against the Duterte clique, which includes the vice-president’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
As Manila-based political analyst Richard Heydarian notes in a recent column with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the “battle lines have been drawn”.
“Mr. Marcos will either have to respond decisively to repeated and direct threats from his former allies, or risk facing the music once he steps down from office,” Heydarian wrote.
“As ancient Romans knew: Timidity invites aggression, while decisiveness protects the republic.”
Heydarian was commenting on the recent ratcheting up of the conflict between the two most powerful political camps in the Philippines.
This latest escalation was set off on November 23, 2024 when Sara Duterte said that she has
contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez, if she herself is killed.
The vice-president stressed in an online media conference that she was not joking.
Citing an unspecified plot against her life, Sara Duterte said: “Don’t worry about my security because I’ve talked with somebody. I said ‘if I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez’. No joke, no joke.” [BBM is the popular initials for the president, which stands for ‘Bongbong Marcos’.]
“I’ve given my order, ‘If I die, don’t stop until you’ve killed them.’ And he said, ’yes,’” the vice president said.
Marcos responded on November 25, saying Sara Duterte’s threat is “troubling”.
“If it’s that easy to plan the assassination of a president, how much more for ordinary citizens?” Marcos said in a recorded video.
“Such criminal attempts should not be ignored,” the President said, adding that he will resist such moves.
“As a democratic country, we need to uphold the rule of law,” he said.
The Philippine Justice Department labelled Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate Marcos and directed her to respond to a subpoena.
“The government is taking action to protect our duly elected President,” Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres told reporters.
“The premeditated plot to assassinate the President as declared by the self-confessed mastermind will now face legal consequences,” Andres said.
As if things were not bad enough, Sara Duterte’s father and ex-president Rodrigo Duterte on November 25 called on the military to take action against Marcos and his administration.
Rodrigo Duterte also repeated one of his previous claims that Marcos is a drug addict.
“There is a fractured governance in the Philippines right now,” Rodrigo Duterte said during a press conference.
“Nobody can correct Marcos, nobody can correct [House Speaker Martin] Romualdez… There is no urgent remedy. It is only the military who can correct it,” the former president stated.
Rodrigo Duterte also urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines to reconsider their support to the Marcos government.
“How long will you continue to support a president who is a drug addict?” the ex-president asked.
Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks drew a sharp rebuke from Lucas Bersamin, who is the Executive Secretary to Marcos.
In a statement, Bersamin condemned the former president for urging the armed forces to betray their oath of service, describing his actions as “great and evil lengths” to install his daughter, Sara Duterte, as president.
“No motive is more selfish than calling for a sitting president to be overthrown so that your daughter can take over,” Bersamin stated.
Marcos’ executive secretary also urged Rodrigo Duterte to respect the Constitution and refrain from “irresponsible” behavior.
Marcos and Sara Duterte ran under the same ticket in the 2022 national elections.
The alliance between the Marcos and Duterte camps started to unravel not long after the elections over differences in domestic and foreign matters.
In June 2024, Sara Duterte resigned from the cabinet of Marcos.
The vice-president also unleashed a tirade against the president in a freewheeling press conference on October 18 this year, saying, “The sitting leader does not know how to become president.”
At one point in the same media conference, Sara Duterte said she had told a Marcos family member that she would have the body of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. exhumed and thrown in the South China Sea.
She also related about thinking of cutting the head of President Marcos.
By Carlito Pablo
