The vice-president of the Philippines has hired a hitman to kill the country’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, his wife and the speaker of the house, in the event she is assassinated.

The Philippines' security council will verify an alleged assassination threat by Vice President Sara Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a top official said on Sunday, describing it as a "matter of national security".

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said she has contracted a hired killer to assassinate her country's president in a bizarre public threat made amid worsening political divisions.

Sara Duterte accused Bongbong Marcos of incompetence and said she has contracted an assassin to kill him if she herself is killed.