Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday failed to show up for a meeting with government investigators after being labeled the “self-confessed mastermind” of a plot to kill Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Duterte was subpoenaed on Monday following a weekend news conference where she claimed to have told someone to kill the president should an alleged threat against her own life be carried out — comments she later said were misinterpreted — but the deadline to appear came and went yesterday, with her lawyers saying she was busy attending “office matters requiring her urgent attention.”
Philippine National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago told reporters that Duterte’s meeting with investigators had been pushed back to Dec. 11, adding the vice president was “not immune from prosecution.”
Photo: AFP
Formal criminal charges against the vice president could mean potential jail time.
The alliance between Duterte and Marcos has collapsed spectacularly in the buildup to next year’s mid-term elections, with both sides trading allegations of drug addiction.
The vice president on Wednesday said the probe into her alleged threat and an ongoing House of Representatives investigation into her finances were aimed at removing her from office.
House officials have denied they are planning to impeach her, and Marcos yesterday said that he considered such an attempt pointless.
“This is not important. This does not make any difference to even one single Filipino life. So why waste time on it?” Marcos told reporters.
Duterte, the daughter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, on Saturday last week delivered an expletive-laden online news conference in which she claimed to have told someone to kill Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Philippine House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez — a Marcos cousin — if she were assassinated.
“If I die, don’t stop until you have killed them,” she said, adding that she was “not joking.”
However, on Tuesday she denied making a death threat, describing her comments as an expression of “consternation” with the Marcos administration’s failures.
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
DRILLS FOR 10 DAYS: The exercises would continue around the clock under realistic conditions taking into account all possibilities, the defense ministry said Taiwan yesterday launched its largest-ever military drills intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade, including using “gray zone” tactics deployed by China that stop just short of open warfare. This year’s 10-day live-fire Han Kuang exercises are the longest yet and follow the delivery of a range of new weaponry from tanks to uncrewed waterborne drones. The drills began with exercises to counter the actions of China Coast Guard and maritime militia ships that have been harassing Taiwanese vessels around outlying islands close to the Chinese coast, the Ministry of National Defense said. Cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns are seen by Taiwan as
RSS