Danniell Domingo

Vice President Sara Duterte addressed reporters on Nov. 26 that her ‘assassination’ remark against President Ferdinand Marcos, along with his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, follows a main condition that she be killed first, sparking national security concern.

Photo Courtesy of Rappler/Presidential Communications Office.

Duterte has confirmed that she had spoken to an individual and instructed them to seek revenge on the three if she were ever assassinated.

“Yes. So I have to die first. They have to kill me first. So now they can't kill me anymore. Unless they want to die,” Duterte said, referring to the condition of her ‘assasination’ plot.

Drawing a comparison to the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Duterte suggested that she had taken precautions that Aquino had not.

“Kaya hindi nakaganti si Benigno Aquino Jr. kasi hindi siya nagbilin. But you know, Benigno Aquino Jr. is not Sara Duterte.  So, ibang tao din siya. Ibang tao din ako,” she said.

Duterte stressed to the media that her “last four words” of her entire statement was used by the Marcoses to paint a different narrative against her.

The words “assassin” and “murder plot” were never used in the recent “consternation,” said Duterte, following her past criticism of the Marcos administration for failure to serve the Filipinos.

“So nilalagay nila doon sa narrative nila, assassin. And nilalagay nila sa narrative nila, murder plot. Into this issue, tossing the word assassin into this issue makes things even more terrifying for our country,” Duterte said.

Providing context behind the vice president’s assassination remark, Duterte said in a press briefing that there were already three people who had warned about threats to her security.

In response, the vice president asked a person to “take revenge against three individuals” in the event of her death.

President Ferdinand Marcos said on Nov. 25 that he would fight back against the threat laid to him by his estranged ally Duterte.

“The statements we heard in the previous days were troubling,” Marcos said. “There is the reckless use of profanities and threats to kill some of us.”