A simmering monthslong feud between the president and vice-president of Philippines, each part of separate political dynasties, erupted over the weekend with an apparent public death threat.
For good measure on Monday, Vice-President Sara Duterte insinuated that the dictator father of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was behind the 1980s assassination of a politician from a third Filipino political dynasty.
Duterte, 46, sparked the latest melodrama between the families after her chief of staff was detained as part of a congressional inquiry into possible misuse of her budget in her other role until June as education secretary.
Raising allegations of an unspecified plot on her life, Duterte said, in the event of any untoward death, she’d already contacted “somebody” to kill Marcos and his wife, Liza Araneta. Also on the apparent target list is Martin Romualdez, a Marcos cousin who is the House Speaker where the inquiry is taking place.
To be clear, there’s no evidence at this point of any operational plot.
As well, Duterte tried to walk back the statements hours later.
“There is no reason for me to kill him. What’s the benefit for me?” said Duterte, the daughter of the country’s controversial previous president, Rodrigo Duterte.
But Sara Duterte could potentially face a criminal charge, and her remarks are being taken seriously, because when a president dies or sustains permanent disability, the vice-president takes over. Marcos, the 17th president in the country’s history, was elected to a term that is to last until 2028.
The blowup has illustrated the perils of a political system in which presidents and vice-presidents can forge an alliance even if they run under different political parties, in a country where scores of political families have monopolized power.
Marcos family exiled, embraced by many again
Bong Bong, as the current president is known to his supporters, spent time in U.K. and U.S. schools in the 1970s as his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was consolidating power back home, having declared martial law in 1972. Civil liberties and press freedoms were restricted and perceived opponents were jailed and tortured — tens of thousands Filipinos have filed compensation claims under the law providing reparations for victims of human rights violations during that era.
The tumultuous times continued into the 1980s, with the assassination of previously jailed and exiled Marcos critic Benigno Aquino Jr., who was killed just hours after returning to the country. Military figures were put on trial for the Aquino killing, though there was no established link to Marcos Sr.
Sustained protests helped drive Marcos Sr. out of the country in 1986, and he died in exile in Hawaii three years later.
Decades-long efforts commenced to reclaim possessions and assets the Marcos family accumulated that were considered ill-begotten, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts. Imelda Marcos, still alive at 95, famously amassed luxury items as the president’s wife, including clothes, jewelry and paintings.
Marcos Jr. was a provincial governor when exiled. Despite the family’s apparent looting of public money, he was able to rebuild his political career at both the provincial and then federal level, after then-president Corazon Aquino, the wife of Benigno Aquino Jr., allowed the Marcos family to return in the early 1990s to face criminal consequence that didn’t lead to significant punishment.
Marcos Jr. actually ran to be Rodrigo Duterte’s vice-president in 2016, but lost that race. In addition to his House Speaker cousin, his sister Imee is currently a senator.
While in exile in Hawaii, Marcos Jr. referred to his father’s reign in a speech as “benevolent authoritarianism,” and he has never apologized for the abuses of the 1970s and 1980s in any of his political roles.
Easy election wins
Duterte is a mother of three and trained lawyer, like her father.
The position of Davao City mayor has essentially been a Duterte family domain for 35 years. Sara Duterte first stepped into that role, previously held by her father, in 2010. At present, her brother Sebastian is the office holder.
Rodrigo Duterte has been condemned by Western governments and human rights groups for a brutal anti-drugs crackdown while both mayor and president. It left more than 6,000 mostly poor suspects dead in large-scale killings that are being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Duterte withdrew the Philippines as a member of the ICC as a result.
WATCH l CBC News in 2019 on Duterte’s drug war:
CBC News special: Fight for the Philippines
CBC news senior correspondent Adrienne Arsenault reports from Manila on the horrors of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. She also speaks to jailed Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, a vocal critic of Duterte. is a vocal critic of the country’s strongman president.
It had been speculated that Sara Duterte would run for president and succeed her father. But she agreed to round out a ticket topped by Marcos Jr., which she said came in no small part due to the urging of Imee Marcos.
Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte each won their races easily in 2022, though the opposition was appalled.
“It has the most self-serving aims — a Marcos restoration and the protection of outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte,” said Renato Reyes of Bayan, a prominent left-wing coalition, at the time.
The Marcos-Duterte friction
Marcos Jr. as president immediately did the Duterte family a favour, indicating the country had no plans to rejoin the ICC.
But the relationship between the camps deteriorated. In addition to allegations of reckless spending in the education ministry, Marcos Jr. accused Rodrigo Duterte of striking a secret deal with China to avoid territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.
Rodrigo Duterte accused Marcos Jr. of past drug use, without proof, and the president mentioned his predecessor’s known use of fentanyl, stemming from a prescription following an accident.
Sara Duterte amped up the rhetoric last month. Describing an interaction between Marcos Jr. and a student she witnessed and didn’t approve of, the VP said, “I wanted to remove his head.”
On Monday, she added more fuel to the fire, evoking the stunning 1983 assassination.
“The whole nation fought back when their family killed Benigno Aquino Jr.,” Duterte told reporters, without offering proof for her accusation.
The national police and military immediately boosted the security of the president, and the justice department said it would summon the vice-president for an investigation. The National Security Council said it considered the threat a national security concern.
Politically, it could give plenty of fodder for Marcos Jr. and his allies, as they look to shore up support heading into midterms next year.
