Philippines vice president publicly threatens to have nation's president assassinated

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday she has contracted an assassin to kill the president, his wife and the House of Representatives speaker if she herself is killed, in a brazen public threat that she warned was not a joke.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin referred the "active threat" against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to an elite presidential guards force "for immediate proper action." It was not immediately clear what actions would be taken against the vice president.

The Presidential Security Command immediately boosted Marcos' security and said it considered the vice president's threat, which was "made so brazenly in public," a national security issue.