The vice-president’s backtracking of her comment about hiring an assassin to kill Marcos Jnr is linked to midterm elections, analysts say.
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr about hiring an assassin to kill him and his family could be what observers say is a calculated move to mobilise her family’s support base as the feud between the two political clans continues to escalate.
“The threats and public statements could be a deliberate ploy to assert dominance and rally her base using tried and tested populist rhetoric identified with the Duterte family – by portraying herself as an embattled leader fighting against powerful adversaries,” Cleve Arguelles, a political scientist and president of independent polling firm WR Numero, told This Week in Asia.
