President Bongbong Marcos on Saturday indirectly addressed former President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial remarks about killing incumbent senators to create space for PDP-Laban candidates.
Marcos made his comments during a campaign rally in Davao del Norte, Duterte’s political stronghold, where he endorsed the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate.
Marcos remarked, “We see the other party… they seem unnerved, maybe even afraid of you, because when they see the Alyansa lineup, they start saying all sorts of things.”
He expressed concern about the dangerous rhetoric that normalizes violence as a political strategy.
“We just heard the other day that they said there’s no hope — maybe because they have no hope themselves, so they would rather eliminate 15 senators. It’s troubling that some people think the only solution to all problems is to kill more Filipinos. It’s puzzling why they think that way,” he said.
While criticizing the violence-inciting rhetoric, Marcos acknowledged the competitive nature of his campaign, noting that opposing political groups may feel threatened by the strength of his slate.
“If I were in the opposing party facing this lineup, I would say this is a tough campaign. The competition is strong because if you assess each of them individually, they have outstanding records and impressive performances in their respective positions in government,” he added.
The remarks came in response to Duterte’s statement at last Thursday’s PDP-Laban rally, where he suggested killing senators to open up vacancies for his party’s candidates.
