During a campaign rally, former president Rodrigo Duterte joked that 15 sitting senators should be killed to create vacancies for his preferred candidates. His die-hard supporters laughed, taking it as an endearing, if provocative, way to get his message across. His allies in government quickly dismissed the statement as mere jest, claiming no harm was intended.
Aside from muted condemnation from progressive groups and a few opposing candidates, the general public appeared largely indifferent — accustomed to such rhetoric, immune to its implications, and blind to the moral injury embedded within it.
But this statement is not just a joke.
It reflects a deeply entrenched political reality where violence is frequently wielded as a tool for securing power. The idea of eliminating political rivals — whether through intimidation, forced resignation, or assassination — is not a mere exaggeration but an all-too-familiar strategy in Philippine politics.
Numerous anecdotal cases reveal how individuals seeking government positions resort to murder to create vacancies. In local politics, claimants to municipal or provincial seats have hired assassins to eliminate incumbents. Even within the government administrative ranks, appointees such as regional directors who are from Luzon and appointed to positions in Mindanao have received death threats, pressuring them to step aside so that Mindanaoans can assume the post. Those who refuse to yield risk becoming targets of assassination.
Thus, when Duterte made such a statement to put his candidates in the senatorial positions, he was not simply joking — he was articulating an unspoken, but widely recognized, political practice. What is sadly alarming is that the public’s reaction — laughter — reveals a sickness within the nation’s political culture. The ease with which Filipinos dismiss, tolerate, or even find humor in political violence signals a moral decay, a normalization of impunity, and an erosion of democratic values.
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Moral injury and the Filipino political psyche
This joke inflicts moral injury upon the Filipino people — a deep, psychological wound that occurs when individuals or societies witness, perpetrate, or are complicit in acts that violate their fundamental moral beliefs. In this context, Duterte’s rhetoric:
- Erodes trust in democracy – It suggests that elections and political processes are irrelevant when brute force and violence can dictate leadership.
- Destroys meritocracy – It reinforces the idea that positions of power are not earned through competence, integrity, or public service, but through fear and coercion.
- Weakens national unity – The Philippines has long prided itself on values such as bayanihan (community cooperation) and damayan (compassion). Jokes that glorify political violence chip away at these shared ideals, fostering a culture of cynicism and acceptance of brutality.
Moral injury is more insidious than physical violence because it does not just wound bodies — it corrupts consciences. When leaders speak lightly of assassination, they do more than normalize violence; they make it acceptable. Worse, they turn political murder into a form of entertainment — a spectacle that amuses rather than horrifies.
A nation’s moral compass is revealed in the behaviors it tolerates, the words it laughs at, and the leaders it defends. Duterte’s “joke” about assassinating senators is not merely offensive—it is a symptom of a political culture that has become dangerously desensitized to violence. To dismiss such rhetoric as mere jest is to ignore the moral injury it inflicts on democracy, meritocracy, and national unity. If the Philippines is to heal from this sickness, Filipinos must refuse to laugh at such jokes, refuse to normalize impunity, and refuse to allow political violence to shape the nation’s future. – Rappler.com
Raymund Narag, PhD, is an associate professor at the School of Justice and Public Safety of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale.