Authorities in the Philippines are tightening security around President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after his deputy said she instructed an assassin to kill him if she herself is slain.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said during an online news conference on Saturday: "I have already talked to someone. I told him if I were to be assassinated, kill President Marcos, the first lady and the House Speaker. No joke."

She did not specify what danger she was facing.

Marcos responded with a video statement. He called the threat "troubling" and "reckless" and said, "I will not let others' desire to drag the entire country into the mire of politics succeed."
Duterte and Marcos were running mates in the 2022 presidential election. But the alliance between their powerful clans soured.

The Philippine government has suggested it will cooperate with the International Criminal Court if it places Sara Duterte's father and former president, Rodrigo Duterte, on a wanted list.

The ICC is probing the former president's deadly "war on drugs." Manila says the campaign left more than 6,000 people dead.