Vice President of the Philippines Sara. Duterte arrested on suspicion of threatening to assassinate president

(Central News Agency reporter Lin Xingjian’s special report from Manila on the 4th) Philippine Vice President Sara. Duterte was arrested by a court today for allegedly making assassination threats against President Marcos Jr. and his family. The grievances and resentments of the two families who used to run together, from alliance to breakup, have come to the surface again.

The case originated from a video press conference held by Sara Duterte in November 2024. At the time, she said she was facing threats to her life and had told someone to assassinate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife and then House Speaker Martin Romualdez if something happened to her.

The Philippine Department of Justice indicted Sara on three counts of major threats in August, and the Quezon City District Court issued an arrest warrant today.

Behind this political storm is a political alliance that went from cooperation to breakup in less than four years.

The Marcos family is the representative of political forces in the northern Philippines, while the Duterte family has long dominated the south, especially Davao City. In the 2022 presidential election, Marcos Jr. and Sara will compete for the positions of president and vice president. It can be said to be a strong alliance that not only integrates the local campaign machine, but also absorbs the high popularity of the two families in their respective spheres of influence.

The two formed the "UniTeam" with the slogan of ending political divisions and promoting unity. Marcos supported the continuation of then-President Rodrigo Duterte's "anti-drug war", but the approach may be different, and opposed the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s intervention in investigating the "anti-drug war".

Under the Philippine electoral system, the president and vice president are elected by separate votes by the people. In the general election voting in May 2022, Marcos and Sara were elected president and vice president with an overwhelming vote.

However, political observers pointed out that the alliance between the two families was only formed to win the election from the beginning, rather than a political team with the same ideals. After the election, the two parties will naturally have different interests and goals, and cracks will eventually emerge.

After Marcos took office, Sara expressed her hope to serve as Minister of Defense, but was eventually appointed as Minister of Education. The outside world believes that this personnel arrangement has reflected that the political calculations between the two families are not completely consistent.

Such differences were intensified by the personnel dispute in the House of Representatives. After Marcos Jr.'s cousin Romualdez became the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the House of Representatives began to investigate the flow of confidential funds from Sala's office.

In the field of diplomacy and security, Marcos has abandoned former President Duterte's "pro-China and Far-US" line and gradually strengthened military cooperation with the United States. The rift between the two families continues to deepen.

By June 2024, Sala resigned as Minister of Education and officially withdrew from Marcos Jr.'s cabinet. The political conflict intensified; in December of the same year, Sala was impeached by multiple civil groups.

On March 11, 2025, the Philippine government cooperated with the request of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to arrest Duterte and escorted him to The Hague, Netherlands, to face trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the "anti-drug war". The relationship between the two families was completely broken.

Political observers told Central News Agency at the time that under such circumstances, the 2028 presidential election is no longer just a general political competition for the two families, but a "battle for survival."

In February this year, another vigilante group filed an impeachment complaint against Sara to the House of Representatives. In May, the House of Representatives voted to send the impeachment case to the Senate, which has now turned it into an "impeachment court" for trial.

Even though polls show that Sarah still has high public support, she is in trouble because she is facing impeachment proceedings and a criminal case for allegedly threatening to assassinate the president. Legal sources say that whether she is successfully impeached or convicted of intimidation, she will be disqualified from running for president in 2028.

The two major families of Marcos and Duterte have turned from partners into competitors for survival. The political alliance in the past was the starting point for the two major families to join forces to aspire to power, and the development of the situation after the political break will also determine who can take over Malacañang Palace in 2028. (Editor: Tang Shengyang)