Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday downplayed former president Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial remarks about killing 15 senators to make way for his nine senatorial candidates.
In a press conference at the Senate, Senator Marcos said she is not afraid of the alleged threat when asked about her opinion about the matter, adding that she is also now used to Duterte’s “Davao trash talk.”
"Baka sila balakid, alam mo yun. Balakid, di-ka-lab, ako kasi di ako natatakot kasi ako lab. Balakid siguro sila kaya kinakabahan," Senator Marcos said.
Last week, Duterte “joked” about killing 15 senators to vacate more seats for his senatorial candidates under his party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan, or PDP-Laban.
“Now that there are many of them (aiming for the Senate). What should we do? Why don't we just kill the senators now so we can vacate their seats? If we can kill about 15 senators, we’ll all get in,” he said during the PDP-Laban proclamation rally at Club Filipino in San Juan City.
“But that’s unfortunate. But it's frustrating because, well, not all of them, but talking about opportunities, the only way to do it is to just blow up that them up,” he added.
On Monday, Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Maj. Gen. Nicholas Torre III filed complaints of inciting sedition and unlawful utterances against Duterte over said remarks.
Torre filed the case before the Department of Justice.