Duterte jokes about killing 15 senators to make way for his bets
Former President Rodrigo Duterte (Still captured from an INQUIRER.net video)
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday joked about killing senators to make more vacancies for the senatorial candidates he was endorsing.
Duterte made the remark at the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) senatorial proclamation rally at Club Filipino in San Juan City on Thursday.
“Now, there’s many of them. What should we do? Let’s kill the senators now to create vacancies,” he said in Filipino, eliciting laughter from the audience.
“If we can kill around 15 senators, we can all go in. But, they’d be pitiful. Yet they’re irritating — not all of them, though. Talking of opportunities, the only way to do it is to use a bomb,” he said.
PDP-Laban is fielding the following nine candidates for the Senate in the May midterm elections:
- Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa
- Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go
- musician and lawyer Jimmy Bondoc
- former Interior Undersecretary Jayvee Hinlo
- ex-presidential adviser for Northern Luzon Raul Lambino
- actor Philip Salvador
- SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta
- detained Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy
- former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez
