Not from thin air

It is quite strange that several congressmen and not the incumbent senators took umbrage over the “kill” joke of former president Rodrigo Duterte. Understandably, these are the same congressmen who voted for the fourth impeachment complaint against ex-president Duterte’s daughter Vice President Sara Duterte. As of this writing, the senators of the 19th Congress have not acted on it yet.

The 24-man Senate is actually one less senator with the appointment to the Cabinet of former senator Sonny Angara. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. appointed Angara as his new Department of Education (DepEd) secretary after VP Sara resigned from the Cabinet in July last year. While she was concurrent DepEd secretary, VP Sara was accused of having misused the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of the agency, which is one of the articles of impeachment against her.

Except for Senate minority leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, none of the sitting senators took seriously Mr. Duterte’s “kill” wisecrack. In a statement, Pimentel raised concerns that individuals who often speak of death and killing can indicate a behavior with deeper psychological issues. Pimentel had a political fallout with ex-president Duterte following the latter’s taking over the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). The namesake son of the late senator Nene Pimentel Jr. has a pending appeal at the Supreme Court (SC) asking to reverse the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling that granted PDP-Laban to the Duterte-led bloc.

Mr. Duterte is a self-confessed firm believer in the exercise of one’s freedom of expression and free speech. Actually, Mr. Duterte’s “kill” joke is typical of his public discourses. The former Davao City mayor resorts to such antics to keep his audience from falling asleep during his usually long-winded speeches. Aside from profanity-laced language, he is the master of exaggeration in public speaking.

Turning 80 years old next month, the former president has been coming in and out of his retirement from their family residence in Davao City. Perhaps out of boredom and definitely missing his high-profile life, Mr. Duterte has found a very good excuse to get back into the limelight. As the chief endorser of his PDP-Laban partymates, Mr. Duterte joined the campaign trail to principally boost the re-election bids of Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

In his latest antics, Mr. Duterte suggested killing 15 of the sitting senators. In his usual off-the-cuff, extemporaneous speech, Mr. Duterte’s suggestion was made at the proclamation rally of the PDP senatorial ticket last week. Aside from the two re-electionist senators, the other senatorial candidates of the PDP-Laban are Jimmy Bondoc; Jayvee Hinlo; Raul Lambino; party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta; Pastor Apollo Quiboloy; Vic Rodriguez and actor Philip Salvador.

Mr. Duterte jokingly riposted: “Now, there are too many of them, what should we do? Let’s just kill the senators now to create vacancies. If we kill 15 senators, we all get in.” He stopped short though of identifying who are in his “kill 15” list. But “killing” 15 senators would be more than the nine senatorial candidates that the PDP-Laban is able to field for the May 12 elections.

While Mr. Duterte can get away with it as a joke, methinks there is deeper message to his “kill 15” target.

Mr. Duterte ostensibly has not made any public comment, one way or the other, about his daughter’s impeachment woes. But his “kill 15” target can be relatable to VP Sara’s impeachment complaint. Having worked long as prosecutor, Mr. Duterte is much more shrewd and wily as a political tactician.

In his own extemporaneous speech at the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign rally held in Davao del Norte last weekend, PBBM snickered at Mr. Duterte’s “kill” remarks as a “desperate” reaction to the very strong and powerful 12-man administration-backed Senate ticket.

“Narinig lang natin noong isang araw, wala daw pag-asa – siguro sa kanila wala silang pag-asa kaya papatay na lang sila ng 15 na senador,” PBBM cited. “Eh talagang… Sabagay mahirap naman ‘yung ibang tao ang iniisip lang nila pagka – ang kaisa-isang solusyon sa lahat ng problema ay pumatay pa ng Pilipino. Nakakapagtaka kung bakit ganoon,” PBBM pointed out.

PBBM could not be oblivious when he launched his own “negative” campaign at the first proclamation rally of his administration-backed Alyansa in the Marcos’ home turf in Laoag, Ilocos Norte last Feb.11. As the nominal chieftain of the ruling Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, PBBM set the tone of the senatorial campaign when he recited the bloody all-out war against illegal drugs; the proliferation of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs); to being subservient to China in our country’s overlapping maritime claims in West Philippine Sea.

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero had earlier announced they could only start the impeachment trial of VP Sara a day after PBBM’s next State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28. Escudero cited the need to undertake first the preliminary steps and for the senators to review their existing impeachment rules.

The ouster of the late chief justice Renato Corona was the last impeachment trial completed by the Senate in May 2012. It was the 15th Congress when Corona got impeached by more than the required two-thirds of the Senate.

But 20 senators, who included Escudero and Pimentel, voted for Corona’s ouster. Then senator Bongbong Marcos, along with the late senators Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, cast the three “No” votes.

The rest who voted for Corona’s impeachment were the following senators at that time: Angara; Alan Peter Cayetano; Pia Cayetano; Franklin Drilon; Jinggoy Estrada; Teofisto Guingona III; Gregorio Honasan II; Panfilo Lacson; Lito Lapid; Loren Legarda; Sergio Osmeña III; Francis Pangilinan; Ralph Recto; Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.; Vicente Sotto III; Antonio Trillanes IV; Manuel Villar and, then Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile.

Notably, five of the seven Corona impeach senators are running for the Senate again this May under the Marcos administration-backed Alyansa ticket. Enrile, Recto and Angara are now Marcos Cabinet members.

So the “kill 15” idea did not come out of thin air.