President Bongbong Marcos indirectly expressed during a rally in Cebu regarding the controversial remarks made by former President Rodrigo Duterte about the death of sitting senators, to make room for candidates of the PDP-Laban. Marcos stated during the pre-election meeting in Davao-deal-Norte, a political stronghold of Duterte, where he supported the list of candidates in the senate from Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas.
Marcos noted: "We see that the other party... they seem to be agitated, it may be that they are even disturbed by you because when they see the list of candidates from Alyansa, they start talking all sorts of things." He expressed concern regarding the dangerous rhetoric that normalizes violence as a political strategy.
"We only heard yesterday that they said there is no hope - perhaps because they have no hope themselves, therefore it is better to get rid of 15 senators. I do not understand why they think so," he said. Criticizing the provocateur of violent rhetoric, Marcos recognized the competitive nature of his campaign, noting that opposing political groups may feel threatened by the strength of his team.
"If I were from the opposing party, confronted with this list, I would say that this is a tough campaign. The competition is strong because, if you evaluate each of them individually, they have outstanding records and impressive performances in their positions in the government," he added.
These comments were made in response to Duterte's statement at a previous Thursday rally in PDP-Laban, where he proposed to eliminate senators in order to make room for candidates from his party. According to some people, they think the only solution to all problems is the killing of a larger number of Filipinos.
