Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. yesterday condemned Vice President Sara Duterte’s threat to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated if she herself is killed.

“The gravity of these statements cannot be overstated. A kill-order on the President is not only a heinous crime but also a betrayal of the highest order — one that shakes the very foundation of our democratic institutions,” Gonzales said in a statement.

Duterte, visibly irate, made the chilling public announcement in a virtual press briefing early Saturday. She claimed that if she were to be killed, she had already instructed someone to assassinate Marcos, Araneta-Marcos and Romualdez.

“I have already talked to someone. I told him that if I am killed, he should kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez. No joke. I already left instructions [and told him] not to stop until you have killed them, and then he said ‘yes,’” Duterte told reporters in Filipino.

Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe dismissed Duterte’s death threat claim as “the product of her fertile imagination” and accused her of trying to distract from serious allegations regarding the misuse of P612.5 million in secret funds allocated to her office and DepEd in 2022 and 2023.

“The Vice President’s [kill] claim is totally without basis. She’s diverting the issue. We are appealing to our people not to fall for these unreasonable outbursts intended to distract them from the real issue,” Dalipe said.

The Vice President’s comments prompted swift condemnation from other House leaders, who have called for a comprehensive probe into the matter.

Deputy Speaker David “Jayjay” Suarez emphasized that “conspiring with an assassin to target the President is a serious crime,” and stressed that regardless of a person’s position, anyone who threatens the integrity of the government must be held accountable.