Sara Duterte makes threat against remains of Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father in searing verbal attack

The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has threatened to dig up the remains of President Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father and throw them into the sea, launching a scathing attack on her rival.

Duterte was once allied with Marcos Jr, and ran on a joint ticket with him in the 2022 election, winning a landslide victory. However, she resigned from the cabinet in June and the two powerful dynasties are now engaged in a bitter struggle for power before next year’s midterm elections, with both also preparing for presidential polls in 2028.

Former president to run for mayor of Davao amid fight for power against formidable Marcos family

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, 79, returned to politics this week when he registered to run as mayor in his family’s stronghold, Davao city. It leaves little doubt: two of the country’s most powerful political families, the Dutertes and the Marcoses, are set for an epic struggle for power.

For the Dutertes, it could prove a battle for their survival. Rodrigo Duterte is facing an investigation by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity over his brutal war on drugs, and the family needs political clout and powerful friends.

Former president has called for his home town, Mindanao, to split from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr crumbles

The Philippine government is ready to use “authority and forces” against attempts to divide the nation, a security official has said, after former president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to separate some southern islands from the rest of the archipelago.

Duterte has called for the independence of his home town, Mindanao, from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated this week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr hits back with fentanyl insult amid breakdown in relations between political families

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte accused his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, of being a drug addict who risked being ousted from office in an expletive-laden tirade that underlined the breakdown in relations between the two powerful political families.

Duterte’s speech on Sunday, in which he claimed Marcos Jr’s allies were trying to remove constitutional term limits so they could cling to power, follows long-running speculation about hostilities between the families.

Former senator was arrested after launching inquiry into ex-president’s brutal war on drugs

The most prominent critic of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” has been granted bail, after more than six years in jail on what rights groups condemned as trumped-up charges.

Leila de Lima, 64, a former senator and human rights commissioner, emerged from court on Monday to cheers from supporters, who chanted “Justice” and “Leila will soon be free”.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr leads polls but analysts point to huge rallies of his opponent and the vice-president, Leni Robredo

Voters in the Philippines will go to the polls for a presidential election that pits frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, against a human rights lawyer who has promised a transparent government.

Marcos Jr, known as “Bongbong”, whose authoritarian father plundered billions of dollars from the state and presided over rife human rights abuses, has maintained a strong lead in opinion polls in the run-up to Monday’s vote. If elected president, it would mark an extraordinary rehabilitation of one of the country’s most controversial political families.