Vice President Sara Duterte shouldn’t have said those things

This is, after all, an age when even “harmless” jokes can get you in trouble with HR at the office. What Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte did in what came across as a grave threat against Philippine President Bongbong Marcos is inexcusable. Duterte, after all, is second in line to the top job. Indeed, the whole point of her role as vice president is invoked if the president is rendered unable to fulfill his role in any way — such as if he is killed by an assassin.

Interestingly, that is exactly what Duterte reportedly suggests might happen.

Don’t worry about my security because I’ve talked with somebody. I said ‘if I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke…

Not a joke, as Duterte herself asserts.

This is not to discount the possibility that there may, indeed, be a threat to her life as she claims. Even then, the Vice President shouldn’t have said those things. What cannot be excused is her inability to get a grip. An ability to keep a level head and maintain one’s aim under fire is what sets apart a well-trained and seasoned soldier from a street thug armed with a recently-purchased (or stolen) paltik.

Imagine then what kind of president Sara Duterte would have made. She evidently is not her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and possesses none of his gravitas. The daughter matches the father’s faculties for wit and tongue-in-cheek eloquence with no more than hysterics. Perhaps, the only thing she inherits from the former President is his vast cult following. It is precious capital she now wastes.

Then again, the Dutertards are exactly that — a cult following. Like the BTS Army, they will apply their mental faculties not to critical thinking but to the task of justifying every one of Sara Duterte’s infantile actions. They make an emotional choice and not an intellectual one as one might have observed of any cult following for that matter.

If Sara Duterte truly aspires to build on the immense political capital her father leaves her, she needs to step up and be a bigger person. Rather than rest on the assurances of her rabid fans, she needs to lead them to be better citizens. The alternative is to see her squander her father’s legacy or, worse, end up in prison. The former may not be in the cards yet, but the latter becomes a strong possibility with every ill thought out word she utters and with every adolescent theatric she delivers before the cameras. Filipinos who want to be better Filipinos deserve a bit more in a potential leader than that.

To be fair, there really isn’t much of a better landscape of options outside of the Duterte cult to begin with. Then again, this is Philippine politics where voters decide amongst lesser evils and not the best among the good.

benign0

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.