Duterte’s explosive senate plan: just blow it up

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Rodrigo Duterte, never one for subtlety, has come up with a “simple” solution to shake up the Philippine Senate—just blow it up.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Manila, Duterte half-joked that eliminating 15 senators in a bomb blast would create enough vacancies for his preferred candidates.

The crowd, ever enthusiastic for his shock-value statements, cheered wildly as he suggested that while not all senators are annoying, quite a few could be, well, expendable.

Duterte’s latest tirade comes amid a heated political battle with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., intensified by the impeachment trial of his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

With her fate resting in the hands of the very Senate he casually suggested wiping out, Duterte seems to be embracing a rather extreme form of political reform. While most politicians stick to campaign promises, Duterte—true to form—prefers campaign threats.