Political analyst downplays VP Sara's 'designated survivor' remark

A political analyst on Saturday brushed off Vice President Sara Duterte's remark that she has appointed herself as the government's "designated survivor" when she decided to skip President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s third State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Political analyst Froilan Calilung, a political science professor at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), said, "I don't think the vice president… will actually wish anything wrong to happen to our public officials."

"I think hindi ito 'yung konteksto at uri ng pagkatao na mayroon tayo bilang mga Pilipino," Calilung said.

(I don't think this is the context and kind of person that we are as Filipinos.)

Duterte said Thursday that she would not attend the SONA, adding that "I am appointing myself as the designated survivor."

While the Vice President did not expound on her statement, a hit television series titled, Designated Survivor, which has US and South Korean versions, take off from a scene of the respective country's President delivering his state address with bombs suddenly going off and destroying the entire venue.

The catastrophe results in the deaths of numerous attendees, including the president and public officials in the line of succession.

Senate President Francis Escudero and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian had dismissed Duterte's remarks, while House Senior Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales said the vice president should be investigated over her remarks as she implied "that something bad will happen" when the President delivers his SONA.

Calilung said that while Duterte's presence, as vice president, is not really necessary during the SONA, "it creates a great deal of political drama."

The political analyst said the vice president's absence may divert attention away from the SONA itself.

"I think it will try to steal the [spotlight] away from the policies, the programs, and the good things that the government tried to accomplish because it might, sort of, be overshadowed by the vice president not attending the event," he said. — VDV, GMA Integrated News