For private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan, impeachment trial respondent Vice President Sara Duterte is "contributing to the problem" of violence among Filipino youth, no thanks to the latter's signature violent rhetoric.

Kapunan had this to say Wednesday, Aug. 19 following the deadly shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, where a student shot and killed a fellow student before killing himself Tuesday.

“Hindi lang ang Vice President ang sinasabi kong responsible (I'm not saying that the Vice President is the only one responsible). I am saying that she certainly is contributing to the problem and not to the solution,” Kapunan said during an online press briefing.

The lawyer said that Tuesday's tragedy should prompt a broader examination of the values young Filipinos see around them, including those projected by the country’s political leaders.

She said the Vice President and her family for that matter could have provided a good example, but chose not to.

“’Yun ang default reaction ng ating Vice President, mag-hire ng assassin, mag-press conference, magbanta (That's the default reaction of our Vice President, to hire an assassin, to hold a press conference and issue threats). That cannot be the leadership example of a high public official,” she said.

Kapunan pointed to what she described as a pattern spanning two generations of Duterte leadership, from the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) associated with former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war to the Vice President’s own public statements involving threats and assassins.

“’Yung kultura ng tatay niya, ’yung mga [EJKs], kung kaya ‘yung tatay niya ay nasa The Hague dahil sa [EJKs]. Human rights violation naman ‘yun, that’s crime against humanity. Eh culture of violence ’yun,” she said.

(The culture of her father, the EJKs, that’s why her father is in The Hague because of EJKs. That’s a human rights violation, that’s a crime against humanity. That’s a culture of violence,)

“’Yun lang ba ang legacy ng ating mga leaders na mamamanahin natin? Kasi ‘yung mga values ng leaders natin ‘yun ang nakikita ng mga kabataan ngayon,” she added to drive home her point.

(Is that the only legacy of our leaders that we will inherit? Because the values of our leaders are what the youth see today.)

The Ateneo de Zamboanga University incident was the second school shooting to occur in the country in less than a month, following the first one in Tacloban City, Leyte.

Kapunan clarified that she was not claiming Duterte or her family was solely or directly responsible for violence among young people.

“In my personal opinion, eh kasalanan rin ’yan ng social media, ng media kasi, eh, ’yun ang nano-news ngayon (In my personal opinion, that’s also the fault of social media and the media because that’s what becomes the news now). ’Yung mga (Those) breaking news is about crime, breaking news about drug dealers, breaking news is about itong bullying in schools,” she noted.

“So hindi lang directly responsible ang isang Vice President. Ang sinasabi ko ngayon, eh, dapat back to basics tayo, back to values tayo, back to family tayo,” explained the prosecutor.

(So it’s not only the Vice President who is directly responsible. What I’m saying now is that we should go back to basics, back to values, back to family.)

Kapunan cited respondent Duterte’s November 2024 remarks that she had instructed someone to assassinate President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed.

She also recalled the Vice President's recent remark that she would hire an assassin for P5,000 if her husband were unfaithful.

“If we have a high official, the Vice President herself, saying that she knows assassins who she can hire for P5,000. Ganoon na ba ang kultura natin? (Is this our culture now?) Are we a culture of violence?” Kapunan asked.

Kapunan said Duterte’s impeachment trial should demonstrate that violent rhetoric and conduct by the country’s highest officials cannot simply go without accountability.