The statement followed a press conference in which Duterte claimed he was the subject of an assassination plot and said he had ordered a member of his security team to kill the president if he succeeded.

The Duterte and Marcos families have seen their alliance unravel in spectacular fashion in recent months, trading accusations of drug addiction and increasingly extreme rhetoric ahead of next year’s midterm and 2028 presidential elections.

“I already talked to one of my security. I told him that if I am killed, we kill BBM (Ferdinand Marcos), (First Lady) Liza Araneta and (President’s cousin) Martin Romualdez. No joke,” Duterte said at a press. conference that started after midnight.

“I said, if they die, don’t stop until you kill them.”

Hours later, the palace communications office said it had forwarded “this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate action.”

“Any threat to the president’s life must always be taken seriously, especially since this threat has been publicly disclosed in clear and specific terms,” ​​it said in a statement.

Duterte faces the threat of impeachment in the House of Representatives, led by Marcos’ cousin Romualdez, who is expected to run for president in 2028.

He also had a messy spat with the president’s wife, Liza Araneta-Marcos, who accused her of laughing at an event in January where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, accused Marcos of being a “drug addict “.

Duterte called her to a late-night news conference after House officials said they would transfer her chief of staff — detained after being cited for contempt — from the lower house detention center to a correctional facility.

Zuleika Lopez was detained on Wednesday after being accused of “undue interference” in House proceedings focused on Duterte’s spending of public funds.

Duterte resigned as education cabinet secretary in June when relations between the two families reached a breaking point.

Months earlier, her father had accused Marcos of being a “drug addict,” with the president the next day claiming his predecessor’s health was failing due to long-term use of the powerful opioid fentanyl.

Neither has provided evidence of their allegations.

In October, Duterte said she felt “used” after teaming up with Marcos for the May 2022 elections, which she successfully won.

Duterte remains the constitutional successor of the 67-year-old president.

© 2024 AFP