President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has removed Vice President Sara Duterte from the National Security Council (NSC) along with past presidents of the country.
Executive Order 81, which was issued on December 30 but made public on January 3, reorganized the composition of the NSC, removing the vice president, past presidents, and deputy speakers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. In lieu of the latter, the EO says that three deputy speakers selected by the speaker of the House of Representatives will be part of the principal advisory body on the proper coordination and integration of plans and policies affecting national security.
The EO states that “there is a need to further guarantee that the NSC remains a resilient national security institution… and to ensure that its council members uphold and protect national security and sovereignty, thereby fostering an environment conducive to effective governance and stability.”
In a statement, former chief presidential legal counsel to former President Rodrigo Duterte, Salvador Panelo, called the removal an “ill-advised presidential move” that “smacks of dirty politics” and diminishes the “political star power” of the Dutertes.
“The removal of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former President Joseph Estrada in the NSC is to deodorize the elimination of VP Sara and former President Rodrigo Duterte as members of the NSC — to make it appear that the two are not being targeted,” he added.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin clarified that there was “nothing personal” about VP Duterte’s removal from the NSC.
“[The NSC] is an advisory body in relation to the president as commander-in-chief [of the armed forces]. So the president has the right — as well as the responsibility — of seeing to it that whoever advises him is within his fullest trust and confidence,” Bersamin said in a Malacañang press conference on Tuesday, January 7.
“If the National Security Council is supposed to be including members who are trusted by the president, then let it be understood in that line,” he added. “Wala kaming personalan but my statement before was the vice president has ceased to be relevant as far as the responsibilities of that membership in the National Security Council is concerned.”
Threats to National Security
In an online press conference on November 23, 2024, Duterte told reporters that she instructed an unnamed person to assassinate the president, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and his cousin House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“Nagbilin na ako,” she said. “‘Pag namatay ako, sabi ko, ‘‘Wag ka tumigil ha, hangga’t mapatay mo sila. And then he said, ‘Yes.’”
The following day, National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo M. Año released a statement saying that the NSC would be investigating the nature of “the threat,” which he did not specify. “Any and all threats against the life of the president shall be validated and considered a matter of national security,” he wrote.
On November 25, Duterte responded to Año, saying that her remarks from the online press conference were “maliciously taken out of logical context.” She also said that she “did not recall receiving a single notice of meeting since June 30, 2022,” when she became vice president.
On June 19, 2024, Duterte resigned from her posts as the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and was replaced by Senator Sonny Angara and Año, respectively. Since her departure from the presidential cabinet, she has not held another government position.
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