VP Sara ‘kill order’ vs. First Couple taken seriously – Palace

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos depart from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Sunday (April 30, 2023). (PNA photo by Rolando Mailo)

MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte’s “active threat” on the lives of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos is “taken seriously,” Malacañang said on Saturday.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has referred Duterte’s alleged “kill order” against the First Couple to the Presidential Security Command to take the appropriate action, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement.

“Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms,” the PCO said.

“Acting on the Vice President’s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds, the Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action.”

In an online press briefing early Saturday, Duterte said he had already tapped an assassin to kill Marcos and the First Lady if she is assassinated first.

Duterte said her directive to the alleged hitman she had contracted to kill the First Couple and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez is “no joke.”

Duterte, who is currently staying at the office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, at Batasang Pambansa, claimed in another virtual press conference on Thursday that Romualdez is “the only person who wants me dead.”

The press briefing was held after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability ordered the transfer of her chief of staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, from the House detention facility to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City.

Lopez was cited in contempt on Wednesday over “undue interference” in the committee’s probe on the Office of the Vice President’s use of confidential funds.

Loyal to the state

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, called for “calm and resolve” while reiterating that it is focused on its mandate to protect the people and the state.

“Our personnel are loyal to the Constitution and the Chain of Command,” AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said in a statement released by the Public Affairs Office.

“We are facing greater challenges that require the strength of a united country and armed forces. As a cornerstone of national stability, the AFP shall remain non-partisan, with utmost respect for our democratic institutions and civilian authority,” he said.

Brawner asked Filipinos to hold on to the values of respect and nationalism “that will guide us in these trying times.”

“We reiterate our need to stand together against those who will try to break our bonds as Filipinos,” he said. (With a report from Priam F. Nepomuceno/PNA)