Mar asks Duterte to level up, move on from word war

MANILA, Philippines - A day after challenging Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to a fist fight, Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II changed tone on Wednesday, saying the upcoming election should not be about personalities but issues.

Roxas said while he is ready to face any challenge to be posed by Duterte, he wants to move on from talks about slapping, fist fight or gun duel. 

“Maybe we should leave the discussions about gun duels, slapping and violence. Clearly, I won’t back down on whatever challenge Mayor Duterte will pose. Clearly, I’m not afraid of him and I will face him,” he said on the sidelines of a COOP-NATCCO party-list event in Cebu. 

“What is at stake here are the lives of 100 million Filipinos. What is at stake is the leadership of the country,” he added.

Roxas urged Duterte to just talk about his plans and what he has done for the country. He noted that talks about gun duel, slapping and fist fights would do nothing to address the problems of the country.

“Mayor Digong, let's level up. Our people deserve better,” the LP presidential bet said, addressing the mayor in his nickname.

“Mudslinging and lies have no place in political discourse,” he added.

While he called for the elevation of political discourse, Roxas could not help but allude to Duterte’s previous admissions that he killed 1,700 people and he is a womanizer. 

“The leader of our country should be a model of the youth. The leader of our country should place importance on human lives. The leader of our country should have respect for women,” Roxas said.

“The words and actions of the leader of the country should be guided by the law and nothing else. The rule of law should prevail in all things. The leader of the country should promote good manners that are appropriate to our culture and our identity as nation,” he added.

Friendship over?

The friendship between Roxas and Duterte started to turn sour when the Davao City mayor accused the LP of spreading rumors that he suffering from throat cancer.

Duterte said the rumor was peddled by a certain Philip Lustre Jr., whom he claimed was a public relations officer of Roxas.

Roxas, however, denied spreading the rumor and maintained that he is no way connected to Lustre.

The relationship between the two politicians took a turn for the worse when Roxas dismissed as a myth claims that Davao City under Duterte is one of the safest areas in the Philippines. He said police statistics have shown that 18,000 crime incidents happened in the city in 2014. 

Roxas’s comment about the criminality in Davao City came a few days after the release of a commissioned Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing Duterte leading all presidential candidates. 

Duterte was chosen by 38 percent of the respondents followed by Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay who got 21 percent each. Roxas ranked fourth with 15 percent while Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago got 4 percent.

The nationwide survey was conducted from November 26 to 28 among 1,200 respondents. It was reportedly commissioned by a certain William Lima.

Duterte, who projects himself as a leader with a strong stance against crime, was irked by Roxas’s comment and threatened to slap the LP presidential bet once they crossed paths during the campaign period.

The mayor also claimed that Roxas is not really a graduate of Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania.

Roxas, who vowed to concentrate on platforms rather than bickering, responded by saying that he should be allowed to slap Duterte if he was able to prove that he really obtained a degree from Wharton.

The University of Pennsylvania website listed Roxas as among its notable alumni. According to the website, Roxas earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics at the Wharton School in 1979.

Some critics, however, believe that while Roxas completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he cannot be considered a graduate of Wharton School of Economics. They pointed out that in order to become an alumni of Wharton School of Economics, one has to finish Masters in Business Administration or MBA in the school.

On Tuesday, Roxas said that a slapping match is for girls and challenged Duterte to a fist fight instead. Duterte, however, said he preferred to settle the issue through a gun duel.

When asked if their friendship is over following their exchange of tirades, Roxas said: “I was the one who said that I treated him as a friend.  But all relationships start with the truth.”

“He (Duterte) was the one who came up with false statements,” he added.

Roxas said the political discourse is not a telenovela centered on the conflict of two persons. 

“This is not about you, Digong. This is not about me. This is about the lives of our people,” he said.