Philippine police on Wednesday filed criminal charges against Vice President Sara Duterte and her security staff for assaulting security personnel and disobeying orders during an argument in the House of Representatives on Saturday.
President Duterte had a busy day Saturday as he publicly said he had hired assassins to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and her cousin, President Martin Romualdez, who serves as Speaker of the House of Representatives. She did this in a press conference rather than in a heated private conversation, claiming that Marcos intended to kill her and that hitmen were waiting to take Marcos and his wife in retaliation.
Philippine police and military immediately raised While the alert level around President Marcos has been lowered and security has been tightened around him, the National Security Council has declared Duterte a threat to national security and the judicial system has detained Duterte for investigation. He announced that he would be summoned.
President Duterte tried to dismiss her threat by assuring the public that he would only kill the president if the president killed him first.
“Why would I kill him, if not for revenge from the grave? There's no reason for me to kill him. What's in it for me?” she said at a damage control press conference.
None of this was directly related to why police decided to charge the vice president. This comes after her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was detained last week for showing contempt for the House during a corruption investigation, and the House of Representatives I voted Duterte and her security personnel became violent in order to extend her detention on Saturday.
Both Mr. Lopez and Mr. Duterte are under investigation for allegedly misusing funds from the Office of the Vice President. Lopez is quoted He was arrested on contempt charges and taken to Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) last Wednesday. Her charge was that she missed a November 5 hearing, ostensibly to visit her sick aunt in the United States.
Mr. Lopez angered House investigators by giving evasive answers about the misuse of funds, often claiming he had no idea where the funds went. Mr. Lopez was calm and polite, at least during his testimony, unlike the volatile Mr. Duterte. reportedly She suffered a panic attack after being detained.
Ms. Lopez had another panic attack on Saturday, when the House of Representatives ordered her to be transferred from the relative comfort of VMMC to a women's prison, at which point President Duterte raised Both verbal and physical opposition. Police said it was necessary to charge her to uphold the rule of law.
On Tuesday, Mr. Duterte provided It's a subpoena to answer questions about her threats against the president's life. Mr. Marcos said he intended to prosecute her for participating in a “criminal plot” to assassinate him.
Mr. Duterte's father, similarly outspoken former President Rodrigo Duterte, also weighed in on the controversy on Monday. suggest The military should consider overthrowing Marcos.
“Governance is broken in the Philippines today. There are so many wrongs… only the military can right them,” he said.
President Duterte added that he was not calling for a coup, but rather for mass disobedience to the military or a strike in protest of Marcos' leadership, adding that he Demonstrated where he learned his damage control skills.
“They can just say we don't want to play your game anymore, we're out,” he explained, calling on military officers to refuse orders from “drug addict” Marcos. .
Marcos and his predecessors blame Both of them abuse drugs on a regular basis. In August, a video purportedly showing Marcos snorting cocaine began circulating on social media. Marcos and his officials have dismissed the video as a deepfake, but Rodrigo Duterte insists it is real and that Marcos can only answer to allegations of drug abuse by undergoing a drug test. said.
These events make it difficult to remember that Marcos Jr. chose Sara Duterte as his 2022 running mate in order to build “unity” following the tumultuous end of Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Both Mr. Marcos and the younger Mr. Duterte won in landslides in their respective positions, which are voted separately in the Philippines.
Their relationship soon soured for a variety of reasons, including angry disagreements over how to deal with China. duterte resigned Her father resigned from his post as education secretary in the Marcos cabinet in June, about six months after he began calling President Marcos Jr. a drug addict. Marcos cannot remove her from office as she remains the vice president, an elected position.
