By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienof, A reporter
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday said he will not remain silent following the recent murderous remarks against him and his wife by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, who has been raging during the ongoing congressional investigation into his questionable private finances. .
The President’s statement – the first since his former friend revealed that he ordered the security forces to kill the leader of the Philippines, his wife, Marie Louise Araneta-Marcos, and the Speaker of the House Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, if he is killed, has become very powerful. government action, the Department of Justice says the Vice President will face legal consequences.
These criminal programs should not be taken lightly, said Mr. Marcos in a strongly worded video statement, in which he vowed not to allow anyone to drag his country into low-level politics.
“I will fight for myself,” he said in Filipino.
Mr. Marcos said the statements he heard in the past few days are worrying, citing the careless use of profanity and threats to their lives.
“If plotting to kill the president is that easy, how much easier is it for ordinary citizens?”
Mrs. Duterte, the country’s second-highest official, said this in a press conference at midnight on Saturday, after the House Committee on Government ordered the transfer of her boss, Zuleika T. Lopez, to the Mandaluyong Correctional Facility. The city from the basement detention center.
Congressional inquiries into his secret finances in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education began last year, marking a major political shift less than two years after the May 2022 election, in which Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte are running there as a tandem.
In the Philippines, the President and Vice President are elected separately and may come from different political parties.
Mr. Romualdez opposed attempts to dismiss the statement as a “joke,” adding that the statement is “a direct warning to our democracy, our peace, and the security of the country.”
“Such speech is not only careless, it is dangerous. It sends a sad message to our people,” he said while speaking to legislators during Monday’s meeting.
He also accused the Vice President of diverting his attention as the court found a lot of evidence of misuse of the fund under his leadership as Vice President and during his time as Secretary of Education.
“We will not tolerate and accept vague explanations and vague answers,” he said. “Accountability is not an option. Transparency is non-negotiable. Those entrusted with public funds must be prepared to explain where it was released and how these resources were used.”
Earlier in the day, Ms.
He was responding largely to a statement by the National Security Council (NSC), released on Sunday, which said the Vice President’s threats against the President were “a matter of national security.”
Mrs. Duterte asked why as a member of the NSC the council does not invite her to its meetings.
“I would like to see a copy of the meeting notice with proof of service, attendance list, photos of the meeting, and certified minutes of the meeting where the Council, whether current or past, decided to consider the comments of the meeting. The Vice President is against the President, it has been taken in the wrong way, as a national security concern,” he said.
Later in the day, when asked to comment on the President’s video statement after attending a congressional hearing, Ms. Duterte accused the Marcos family of being behind the assassination of Philippine democracy icon the late Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr.
The death of Mr. Aquino launched a coup in 1986, ending the nine-year military rule of Mr. Aquino’s father. Marcos, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.
Mr. Marcos, who was flying to the United Arab Emirates later in the day on a one-day visit, said recent events would not have led to such “drama” and questions in both houses of Congress.
“Ang tukhang ay hindi dapat i-tokhang [Thetruthshouldnotbekilled)”headdedreferringtothecontroversialtermusedtodescribeformerPresidentRodrigoRDuterte’santi-narcoticscampaignwhichisnowthesubjectofanInternationalCriminalCourtinvestigation[Thetruthshouldnotbekilled)”[Iqinisoakufanelelibulawe)”wanezelaebhekiseegamenilenkulumo-mpikiswanoeliyelasetshenziswaukuchazaumkhankasowokulwanokusetshenziswakwezidakamizwawalowoowayenguMongameliuRodrigoRDutertemanjeosekuyisihlokosophenyolwe-InternationalCriminalCourt[Thetruthshouldnotbekilled)”headdedalludingtoacolloquialtermthathasbeenusedtodescribeformerPresidentRodrigoRDuterte’santi-narcoticscampaignwhichisnowasubjectofanInternationalCriminalCourtinvestigation
Following Ms. Duterte’s words, the presidential palace has tightened security measures.
Security President Nestor Endozo told reporters inside the Malacañang compound on Monday morning that they have doubled the number of security personnel assigned to Mr. Marcos, added that strict security rules will be implemented during his upcoming activities.
The Department of Justice, in a Palace briefing in the afternoon, revealed “a planned plot to kill the President.”
“The self-confessed intellectual is about to face legal consequences,” said Justice Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes T. Andres.
“We are contacting the law enforcement to investigate the whereabouts and identity of this person or persons who may be plotting against the President,” he added.
Mr. Andres said the National Bureau of Investigation will issue a subpoena to Ms. Duterte so that she can clarify her words.
Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, professor of political science at De
La Salle University in Manila, said the statement of Mr. Marcos is “balanced” and “dignified.”
It was an indirect expression of anger, different from the “direct and direct attack on Duterte,” he added in a Facebook Messenger chat.
In his statement, Mr. Marcos said “as a democratic country, we need to respect the law.”
“I, as the head of the executive branch, and other government officials have an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws,” he added.
Mr. Borja said the statement of Mr. Marcos “we also dismissed Duterte’s narrative as mere whispering and backbiting, and the drawing of lines between those who are for or against perceived rule of law and apparent rule.”
“However, with”burak ng politika” (political impurity) the president sacrifices the concept of politics itself to support his anti-political insistence “just work“(specifically businesses) in the government,” he added, referring to the words of Mr. Marcos that he will not allow anyone to drag the country into dirty politics.
“It is as if Sara Duterte’s words include politics and her answer does not.”
“We have to ask, how much space will we leave for other forms of opposition and will his assertion of the rule of law be extended to areas of clear injustice without the Marcos-Duterte controversy,” the scholar said.
The 149-member League of Cities of the Philippines “explosion” Ms.
His murderous words were “inconsiderate” and a serious threat to “our democracy,” said a statement signed by Quezon City Acting President Joy G. Belmonte and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo B. Benitez.
The Association said the Vice President’s use of public funds “must be handled in a way that benefits the greater public trust, not through litigation, name-calling, or divisive behavior.”
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