Duterte Faces Criminal Complaint for Saying Senators Should Be Bombed

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte faces a criminal complaint for comments inciting violence against 15 senators. The complaint was filed by police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III to the Department of Justice. Duterte suggested bombing 15 senators to create vacancies for his party, PDP-Laban, ahead of May 12 mid-term Senate elections. Duterte's camp claims his remarks were a joke made at a rally on Thursday. The current president is Ferdinand Marcos Jr., under whom Duterte already faces legal troubles.

Duterte said at the rally: "Let's kill senators now so there will be vacancies." He added: "If we can kill about 15 senators, we're in ... the only way to do it is, let's just stage an explosion." Torre said in response, "Our country went through a lot of troubles in those past six years. Do we want those troubles to continue, the constant threats of killings that they will dismiss later by just saying that these were just a joke?"

Meanwhile, Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, faces an impeachment trial. The trial stems from separate remarks threatening political rivals. The International Criminal Court continues investigating her father's presidency. It examines potential crimes against humanity related to drug crackdown killings. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)