'They are really father and daughter'

By saying at a campaign rally that 15 senators could be killed to create vacancies in the chamber, former president Rodrigo Duterte was acting true to form as the father of Vice President Sara Duterte, a congressman said yesterday.

- JOSE RODEL CLAPANO

“They are really father and daughter. The daughter threatened to kill the President and the Speaker. The father, on the other hand, wants to kill the senators,” House Assistant Majority Leader Jude Acidre of Tingog party-list said yesterday.

He was reacting to the former president telling supporters at Thursday’s PDP-Laban proclamation rally that senators could be killed so that his senatorial candidates could win in the May elections.

In November last year, Vice President Duterte warned on live video that she had put out a contract to have President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez killed should an alleged assassination plot against her succeed. The threat was one of the grounds for her impeachment.

At the PDP-Laban proclamation rally, Duterte remarked that killing at least 15 senators would leave vacancies that his candidates could fill.

“Now that they’re too many, what do we do now? Kill the senators so there will be vacancies. If we kill at least 15, then we’ll all be in,” he said in Filipino to the applause of supporters.

In a statement, Acidre observed that the statement of the former president mirrors his daughter’s death threats against Marcos, the First Lady and the Speaker.

Acidre stressed that threatening officials in public should not be taken lightly as such constitutes a criminal offense under Philippine laws. He said threats of violence – even intended as a joke – have serious consequences.

Furthermore, the former president’s “kill the senators” remarks could further strengthen the impeachment case against his daughter and result in her conviction.

In the Articles of Impeachment transmitted to the Senate, the Vice President was accused of betraying public trust by making reckless public statements that threatened the security of high-ranking officials.