Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte partied with reporters on Wednesday as she turned up her nose at an official investigation into allegations she planned to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos, her estranged ally.
She hosted what she called a “Thanksgiving” lunch for dozens of journalists at her office instead of meeting with government investigators, and accused the government of plotting to have her removed from office and put on trial to appear.
Duterte, 46, had been summoned after a Nov. 23 news conference where she claimed to have told someone to kill Marcos if an alleged threat against her own life occurred — comments she later said had been misinterpreted.
The alliance between Duterte and Marcos – her partner in the landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election – has collapsed spectacularly ahead of next year's midterm elections.
“I don't believe the investigation will be impartial,” Duterte told reporters, explaining her absence from the investigation.
“The worst-case scenario we see is (my) removal from office, impeachment and then layer upon layer of cases.”
Two political parties formally asked the House of Representatives two weeks ago to remove her from office through impeachment.
However, Marcos said he has urged the House of Representatives not to impeach her as he considers such an attempt futile.
“If her reason for not appearing is a Christmas party, it is unjustifiable,” Jaime Santiago, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, told reporters on Wednesday when asked about Duterte's decision.
“If you are accused of something and you don't respond, your silence condemns you.”
Duterte held an expletive-laden online press conference last month in which she claimed to have told someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez – a cousin of Marcos – if she were killed.
“If I die, don't stop until you kill them,” she said, adding that she was “not kidding.”
She later denied making a death threat and described her comments as an expression of “consternation” over the failures of the Marcos government.
Both Romualdez and Duterte are widely expected to run for president in 2028.
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