EDITORIAL — Another tirade

There was some drama in the detention facility of the House of Representatives involving Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio and her chief of staff. It’s too long to explain here but what happened was that Carpio spent a night in the office of her brother in the Batasang Pambansa complex in solidarity with her detained staff.

We salute the vice president for sticking by her personnel and giving them comfort when they needed it, but what she did after wasn’t exactly worthy of praise.

Following alleged threats to her life in that building, which we aren’t sure whence came from, hence may also probably just be imagined, she also issued her own threats.

"May kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM (President Marcos), si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke… Nagbilin na ako. ‘Pag namatay ako, huwag ka tumigil hangga’t hindi mo mapatay sila. And then he said, ‘Yes,’" Carpio said during a Zoom conference.

So yes, she just said she already contracted an assassin to kill the president, the first lady, and the House speaker if she herself was killed.

Yes, we can always take what she said with a grain of salt. Some will say she is just “joking” the way her father always does, although we fail to see any humor in what she said. Any threat to the president’s security must always be taken seriously. But never mind that, the threat to kill anyone at all is already reason for action.

She might think what she is saying is endearing her to her followers and this might be true for the die-hard ones. But others are surely thinking she just crossed the line when it comes to how someone behaves, especially someone who is supposed to be the second-highest official of the land.

In a previous editorial about her tirades we said the vice president was appearing unhinged. This image of hers isn’t improving with the things she is saying now.