In the proclamation rally of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan held Thursday night, former President Rodrigo Duterte spewed something about his go-to course of action so that his entire senatorial slate could score positions in the Upper Chamber.
“What shall we do? Let’s just kill incumbent senators so there will be vacancies. If we can kill 15 senators, we can all get in. That would be a pity though. But they are very annoying,” the former President said.
By now the nation must be used to Mr. Duterte’s outbursts. His “joke only!” stance has absolved him numerous times from the fallout of his words. His apologists have also frequently alluded to his speech patterns whenever he uttered anything controversial or incriminating. His brand of humor has given him deniability even for the most criminal and revolting of utterances.
Even before he became president, for instance, he joked about being entitled, as a mayor, to be the first to rape an Australian woman who had gone to the jails for a mission. He joked about shooting female rebels in their genitals. At the height of the COVID scare, he said people should infect their face masks with gasoline. And, of course, he has made countless statements about killing drug addicts and criminals to keep his city safe.
This trait is hereditary, apparently. His daughter, the Vice President, held a press conference dismissing her impeachment as less concerning than a breakup with a romantic partner. She also denied she ever threatened anyone’s life – when her online meltdown that anyone with an internet connection could very easily see and verify that she bragged about talking to an assassin to take out several personalities if anything happened to her.
“No joke, no joke,” she repeated, for emphasis.
So did we imagine it all? What is real and what is a joke anymore?
Given the dire straits that our country finds itself in – persistent security threats from China, high prices of goods, corruption at all levels, and an uneven pace of development across areas in the archipelago, among others – we have no need for jesters and outright liars. We will only be served by people who say what they mean, and who mean what they say.
What we can do with the unhinged who stir up trouble and call attention to themselves is to assume they are in full possession of their faculties, that they think before they speak, that they are not joking, and that they should be made fully accountable for all they say, and all they say they do.
No joke, no joke.