Sara Duterte recalls threat to toss Marcos Sr.'s remains into the sea

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos-Duterte feud has hit a new low as Vice President Sara Duterte bared on Friday, October 18, that she once warned Sen. Imee Marcos she would dig former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s remains and toss them into the sea if the political attacks against her continue.

At a press conference packed with cutting remarks against Marcos and his allies, Duterte said she warned the president's sister that she would exhume their father's remains and throw them into the West Philippine Sea "if you don't stop."

"One time, I told Senator Imee, if you don't stop, I'll dig up your father and throw him into the West Philippine Sea," she said in mixed Filipino and English.

"One of these days, I'll go there, take your father's body, and throw it into the West Philippine Sea. I don't think [Imee] responded," Duterte said, adding that she sent the message to a group chat where Imee and "others" read it.  

Duterte gave these disturbing remarks after being asked to comment on the heroes' burial accorded to Marcos Sr. by her father and how it plays into her deepening rift with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In 2016, former President Rodrigo Duterte ignored the protests of Martial Law victims and went ahead with covertly burying Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery).

The move — while billed by the governments as a move to mend political divisions — was also seen as an act of gratitude to then-Ilocos Norte governor Imee Marcos, who had helped fund the elder Duterte's presidential campaign. 

"One of them is Imee, I promised in the debates I would bury her father in the Libingan ng mga Bayani," Rodrigo Duterte said in an interview in 2016. 

The vice president on Friday spent most of her two-hour press conference detailing her fall-out with Marcos Jr. earlier this year and implied her former UniTeam runningmate could not have won without her in the 2022 elections.

Burial as act of gratitude

It was Imee, who Sara still considers an ally, who allegedly told her to run as vice president in the 2022 elections because the Marcoses needed to secure enough votes in the Visayas regions.

To recall, Robredo narrowly beat Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential elections and received a wide lead against him in the Western Visayas regions.

"I said, 'Why are you asking me now to run for vice president? And I’m happy that she was honest enough to say, "Because we will lose to Leni if you don’t bring in the Visayan vote,'" Duterte said.

Sara-led DepEd's 'whitewashing' of Marcos dictatorship

Under Duterte, the Department of Education in 2023 removed the name "Marcos" from the word "dictator" in its revised Araling Panlipunan curriculum.

DepEd maintained the move was not done out of "political pressure" but as a part of the department's organization of the curriculum. 

An official also said that Duterte does not look at the “nitty gritty” of curriculum revisions but instead signs off on the “big ideas.”

A group of martial law-era survivors condemned DepEd's directive for "whitewashing" the crimes committed against Filipinos during the Marcos regime.