The Philippines is a bit like the Wild West of Asia, where enmities are likely to be settled with the shot of a gun. Even at the highest level of state. During a press conference peppered with insults last weekend, Vice President Sara Duterte claimed that she was the subject of an assassination plot. Before saying that she herself had ordered a member of her security team to kill the president if this plot succeeded.
« I spoke to a member about my security. I told him if I got killed he had to kill BBM (President Ferdinand Marcos, Editor’s note), Liza Araneta (the first lady) and Martin Romualdez (the Speaker of the House of Representatives). It's not a joke, it's not a joke”, she said, adding: “I told him, ‘Don’t stop until you kill them,’ and he said yes.” »
Threats taken seriously
A few hours later, the presidential palace communications service said it had transmitted “this active threat to the presidential security command so that it immediately takes the necessary measures”. “Any threat to the life of the president must always be taken seriously, especially since this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms,” the president's communication also said.
The presidential office, citing the Justice Department, said the threats made by Duterte were now being investigated and could lead to prosecution. Marcos's allies in Congress are separately investigating Rodrigo Duterte's campaign, which left more than 6,000 dead in anti-drug operations, and allegations of corruption linked to Sara Duterte's use of public funds during her tenure as secretary of state. education.
An old rivalry
The 2022 electoral alliance between the Philippines' two most powerful families, the Marcoses and the Dutertes, began to fray last January. Sara Duterte's father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, then accused Ferdinand Marcos of being a “addict”while the latter claimed the next day that his predecessor's health was failing due to prolonged use of fentanyl, an opioid. Neither has provided evidence for their allegations.
“Since the election, there had already been cracks,” analyzes Sol Iglesias, professor of political science at the University of the Philippines in Manila, who predicted at the time “friction and rivalry”. But it seems that tensions are increasing in intensity a few months before the mid-term elections in spring 2025. “Once again, this illustrates the fragility of any political alliance in the Philippines,” laments Jayeel Cornelio, sociologist and professor of political science at the prestigious Jesuit Ateneo University in Manila. Especially when it comes to two powerful political dynasties fighting for power.
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