Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong / File 

MANILA, Philippines – A lawmaker found former President Rodrigo Duterte’s joke about killing senators to make sure his slate gets a sweep into the coming midterm polls “disheartening.”

On Monday, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong expressed his disappointment in the former President for easily mouthing intentions to kill. 

“Well it’s so disheartening for a public official especially those who served as our President to say these things to threaten na patayin na lang natin yang mga yan,” Adiong said in a press conference Monday. 

Adiong said hearing the former state chief say this had been a norm since he intended the threat to drug peddlers and criminals but expressing intentions to kill just to ease out your way into something is already alarming, he said. 

“It should really concern all of us because hindi dapat manormalize yung salita na patayin. If you go to the airports naman hindi ka naman pwede mag bomb joke, bomb threat na joke kasi automatically mapoposasan ka how much more say that out in the public,” he said. 

Adiong slammed the former President’s usual “joke” for its “serious implications” to society.  

“We have to be more circumspect about how we say things out in the public especially when the occasion calls for choosing new leaders in the country,” Adiong said.

“HIndi dapat agad-agaran natin ma-normalize at ma-trivialize yung threat na dali-dalian mo lang sabihin pumatay o patayin,” Adiong said. 

Duterte made the remark during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) senatorial proclamation rally at Club Filipino in San Juan City on February 13.

Duterte joked about killing 15 senators to ensure the win of all of his senatorial candidates. 

Adiong also called on to the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the former President’s remarks since it is also investigating the kill plot of Vice President Sara Duterte on the administration.