In a Saturday press conference, Duterte said she had instructed someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos and cousin Martin Romualdez if an alleged plot to assassinate her was successful.
“If I die, don’t stop until you have killed them,” she claimed to have said, later denying her remarks constituted a death threat.
Her Saturday plot comments came shortly after House of Representatives officials threatened to transfer her chief of staff from the lower chamber’s detention centre to a correctional facility.
Zuleika Lopez has been held for contempt since Nov 20, when she was cited for allegedly interfering in a probe into Duterte’s finances.
The Marcos-Duterte alliance that swept to power in 2022 has collapsed spectacularly in the lead-up to next year’s mid-term elections.
Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, remains his constitutional successor should he be unable to finish his six-year term.
But she is currently facing an investigation in the Romualdez-led House of Representatives over her alleged misuse of millions of dollars in government funds.
Both Romualdez and Duterte are widely expected to run for president in 2028.
