Vice President Sara Duterte again spoke publicly about a hypothetical murder-for-hire scenario as she defended her father’s war on drugs and questioned whether all killings linked to the campaign were related to police operations.
Addressing supporters outside the International Criminal Court detention facility in The Hague on Wednesday, Duterte said it was possible to hire a gunman for Php 5,000 to kill a person’s spouse’s lover. She cited the example to argue that some deaths may have resulted from personal motives rather than the antidrug campaign.
She maintained that critics could not automatically classify every victim or complainant as a casualty of the drug war, adding that such uncertainty also weakened claims that the killings amounted to crimes against humanity.
The Vice President delivered the remarks during a rally for former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been detained at the ICC since March 2025 while facing charges of crimes against humanity over his administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Official government records showed that around 6,000 people were killed during police antidrug operations. Human rights groups, however, estimated that the number of deaths reached as many as 30,000, including minors.
Her latest comments drew attention because one of the impeachment articles against her stemmed from her November 2024 statement that she had spoken to someone about killing President Ferdinand Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former Speaker Martin Romualdez if an alleged plot against her succeeded.
Members of the House prosecution panel said Duterte’s remarks again raised concerns over her repeated references to contract killings while her impeachment trial remained ongoing.
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon questioned whether Duterte’s mention of a Php 5,000 contract killing reflected how she viewed the threats cited in the impeachment complaint. Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong also said her detailed description of such a scenario would likely prompt the public to wonder how she became familiar with it.
