Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, Nov. 26, warned that the Marcos “playbook” includes suppressing and oppressing the opposition, including assassinating former senator and national hero Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
(From left) President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte during the Brigada Eskwela in Manila last Aug. 14, 2023. (Ali Vicoy/MANILA BULLETIN)
This despite running in tandem with President Marcos and endorsing him to millions of her supporters, with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, approving the transfer of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s remains to the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.
“Remember they are known for political persecution. They suppress and oppress opposition. And then somebody was assassinated at the airport tarmac, di ba (right)?,” she said during a press conference.
Aquino, a staunch critic of Marcos Sr., was gunned down upon landing at the then Manila International Airport in August 1983. His death set the stage for the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship.
“The people were getting angry, frustrated and what did they do? They created a scenario that there is a national emergency. They set bombs to create a scenario there is a national emergency,” she cited.
The Vice President was referring to the assassination attempt on then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile in September 1972 that Marcos Sr. used as justification for the declaration of Martial Law a few days after.
“And then they assassinated their political enemy. And that’s the playbook. We already saw that in history. So, that’s my proof,” Duterte said.
“Ang hindi lang po nagawa ni Benigno Aquino Jr. kaya po hindi siya nakaganti. Hindi siya nakaganti kasi hindi sya nagbilin, di ba (What Benigno Aquino Jr. didn’t do is to take revenge. He wasn’t able to take revenge, right)? But you know Benigno Aquino Jr. is not Sara Duterte. Iba tao din sya, ibang tao din ako (He’s a different person, I’m a different person),” she added.
The Vice President said this amid backlash on her earlier statement that she hired an assassin to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself gets killed.
But as the Marcos administration lashed out at her for what it calls an “active threat,” with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) serving her a subpoena also on Tuesday, the official stressed that her words were taken out of context.
“My question now to the administration: Is revenge from the grave a crime? 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,” she said.
Duterte claimed that she, her family, and her staff at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) have also received death threats, but the Presidential Security Command (PSC) has not taken proper action to address them.