Former president Rodrigo Duterte (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House "Young Guns" bloc members have followed up President Marcos' recent retort to his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte with sick burns of their own.

Throwing verbal jabs at the tough-talking ex-president on Sunday, Feb. 16 were Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega, and Assistant Majority Leaders Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun and Taguig City 2nd district Rep. Pammy Zamora.

During the campaign rally of the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate in Carmen, Davao del Norte the previous evening, Marcos chided Duterte for saying that he would kill 15 senators in order to make room for the opposition bets in the upcoming May 12 elections.

"Wala daw pag-asa siguro...wala silang pag-asa kaya papatay na lang sila ng 15 senador...ang iniisip lang nila ang kaisa-isang solusyon sa lahat ng problema ay pumatay pa ng Pilipino," Marcos said.

(Maybe they've lost hope...they've lost hope, that's why they'll just kill 15 senators...the only solution to problems that they can think of is to kill more Filipinos.)

Duterte made the threat to "kill" and "blow up" senators last Feb. 13, during the campaign launch of opposition faction Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

“Mahina ang ticket ng Team China, malakas ang Team Pilipinas (Team China's ticket is weak, Team Philippines' is strong),” Khonghun said on Sunday, referring to the PDP-Laban slate and Alyansa slate, respectively.

This was also a reference to Marcos' recurring declarations in Alyansa campaign sorties this month that the administration bets were pro-Filipino, unlike the opposition candidates.

“Pareho silang mag-ama. Dapat siguro, kasuhan din ang dating pangulong Duterte sa ginagawa niyang pananakot, gaya ng pag-file ng complaint ng National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) kay VP Sara Duterte,” Khonghun added.

(Like father, like daughter. Maybe ex-president Duterte should also be charged for his threats, like what the NBI did to VP Sara Duterte.)

The NBI had recently recommended the filing of charges against Vice President Duterte for publicly admitting that she had contracted an assassin to kill Marcos.

Ortega further criticized ex-president Duterte for displaying such an un-Filipino trait.

“Ganun talaga ang dating pangulong Duterte at ang kanyang anak, si Vice President Sara Duterte. Mahilig sa pananakot...Hindi maka-Pilipino ang ugaling ‘yan. Tayong mga Pilipino, hindi natin ginagawa ‘yan, kasi bad ‘yan,” he said.

(That's how former president Duterte and is daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte act. They love to intimidate...that is a very un-Filipino trait. We Filipinos don't do that because that's bad.)

“Nakikita na nila ang pagkatalo sa halalan sa May 12. Kaya nananakot na lang ang dating pangulo at gumagawa ng negative campaigning,” Ortega said.

(They've already foreseen their defeat in the May 12 polls. That's why the former president has resorted to intimidation and negative campaigning.)

Serious or not, the elder Duterte’s remarks didn't sit well with Zamora, who had enough of the former chief executive rhetoric on violence.

"Enough is enough. We cannot allow our leaders, past or present, to keep making murder sound like a policy option,” Zamora said.

"The words of a leader carry weight. When they threaten violence, it emboldens enforcers of the law to take shortcuts, it silences critics, and it fosters a culture of fear instead of democratic discourse," she reckoned.

The congresswoman said that under Duterte’s administration, thousands were killed in a bloody drug war that remains under investigation by international human rights bodies.

"The violence we saw during the Duterte administration is not something to joke about. It has real consequences, and our country continues to deal with the aftermath,” Zamora said.