Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio recently became the center of controversy after saying she was not attending the coming State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. this coming July 22, because she was appointing herself the “designated survivor”.
“No, I will not attend the SONA. I am appointing myself as the designated survivor,” Carpio replied when reporters asked about her attendance.
For those who do not know, the “designated survivor” practice is indeed a thing. It’s when a high government official --someone within the succession to the presidency-- is assigned to keep away from a very important gathering attended by higher government officials to make sure someone is alive to become the president just in case something happens to those other higher officials.
We don’t know if she was serious or not when she said it. But something like that should not have been said at all, joke or no. Because some people cannot just help but infer she really wants something to happen.
So now if anything does happen during the SONA, people will not help but think that she had something to do with it.
Does this sound like something impossible? Something that can only be in the realm of TV dramas, suspense novels, and action movies? Considering how radicalized people are nowadays we can never really tell. After all, who would have thought someone would take a shot at assassinating Donald Trump when he was on a campaign rally, right?
Carpio should not forget that the ordinary people tend to take those in high office seriously no matter what they say, whether this is bringing down the price of rice to ?29 per kilo, or ending the drug menace in six months, or riding a jet-ski to islands disputed with other nations.
We never know. Some people might actually take her statement making herself the “designated survivor” as a sign to actually advance schemes and machinations to make this a reality.