Philippines summons VP Duterte over threat to have Marcos killed

MANILA - Philippine law officials on Tuesday summoned vice president Sara Duterte for questioning over her weekend statements that she had contracted someone to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if she were to be killed.

Duterte accused the administration of twisting her words to create a false narrative that Marcos' life was under active threat, saying in a statement on Tuesday that her remarks were a "conditional act of revenge."

The summons from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) requires Duterte to appear at its offices on Nov. 29. According to the summons, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Duterte will be questioned over the alleged offence of making a grave threat and possible violations of the anti-terrorism law.

In an online press conference on Saturday, Duterte said she had spoken with an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife and his cousin, the speaker of the Philippine House, if she were to be killed.

Duterte's office said she was not in when the summons was served and had not read the order. On Monday, Duterte said she would comply if summoned by investigators.

The estranged vice president's stunning remarks were the latest salvo in a bitter row that has intensified since the collapse of a formidable alliance between their powerful families in which Marcos won the 2022 election by a huge margin, with Duterte running alongside him.

Both Marcos and Duterte are children of former presidents.

Marcos said in a national address on Monday that he would fight "reckless and troubling threats" against him and would not allow such criminal attempts to pass, without naming Duterte.

Unlike the president, the vice president does not enjoy immunity from prosecution, according to the justice ministry.

In her statement, Duterte said her remarks did not amount to a threat on Marcos' life.

"I raise this caution as the President and his sycophants aggressively sell a narrative based entirely on my statement, which is taken out of its logical context," Duterte said.

"Common sense should be enough for us to understand and accept that a supposed conditional act of revenge does not constitute to an active threat," she said.

Duterte's attack on Marcos came just weeks after her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was the subject of marathon parliamentary inquiries into thousands of killings during the notorious "war on drugs" that defined his 2016-2022 presidency.

Congress is separately probing the younger Duterte over alleged misuse of public funds. REUTERS