Catch Duterte by his gaping mouth

IT SEEMS the more Mayor Digong Duterte talks, the more he disaffects discerning voters, but that is the presidential candidate’s lookout.

As a disgruntled citizen attracted to Duterte’s devil-may-care style, I welcome the Davao mayor’s blurting out weird remarks because we then get an insight into his moral and mental fitness to be president.

They say that a fish is caught by its mouth. So may Duterte just reveal his innards and be hooked when he opens his mouth to spout some outlandish blabber.

One wonders if his odd remarks are intentional – they jolt and grab attention – or simply irrational. Or are they reflex reactions developed over the years by repetition and then coming out in unguarded moments?

The latest of Duterte’s rough talk was about a hostage situation where he remarked after seeing the body of a pretty Caucasian who had been raped and killed: “O, eto, ang ganda ganda pa mukhang artista galing Amerika. Pu**** i**, naunahan pa ako!”

The mayor thinks that being the top dog entitles him to having the first shot at a girl too pretty to pass up? Such attitude does not spring at a beastly spur of the moment. Its seed has been implanted in the person’s murky moral soil and ingrained by cultivation over time.

While he refused to heed the call of a women’s group to apologize, he hedged a bit, saying: “I am sorry in general. I am sorry for the Filipino people. It is my style. It is my mouth. I said that in the heat of anger. But listen to the story behind.”

A PhilSTAR report of Rosette Adel said Duterte recalled that the incident happened in 1989, when convicts in the Davao Penal Colony took hostages. He said then President Cory Aquino ordered him to go there as head of the regional peace and order committee. He said his negotiation with the hostage-takers ended in a shootout.

The mayor said he was angry when he saw a hostage who had been killed. In a video of Duterte recalling the incident, he was saying: “In my utter anger, gutter language iyan eh. Salitang kanto.... Galit ako nun, sabi ko ‘o, eto, ang ganda ganda pa mukhang artista galing Amerika. Put*** i**, naunahan pa ako. Patayin mo lahat!”

He added that he then got his Uzi machine pistol and in his anger joined in shooting the hostage takers till his high-capacity magazine was empty.

Voters may want to ask: Was this an isolated incident revealing Duterte’s attitude toward women and killing people?

His rivals for the presidency promptly jumped on him, echoing a widespread negative reaction to Duterte’s remarks.

Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas said: “Anyone who laughs at the ultimate assault on the dignity of women should not be allowed to wield power. Ang babae ay may karapatan, hindi pinaglalaruan. Hindi ito katatawanan, kahayupan ito.”

Vice President Jojo Binay agreed: “Hindi nakakatawa ang rape at murder ng isang babae.” Sen. Grace Poe reminded all and sundry that rape is a crime. She said Duterte’s remark was offensive, distasteful and unacceptable.

• Duterte groping in foreign relations

ANOTHER area where Duterte’s mouth might get him, and the nation, in deep trouble is foreign relations, which is obviously not his strong suit.

As sole spokesman in foreign relations of one of the smaller states embroiled in a territorial conflict with China, the President – it could be Duterte – will need more than braggadocio to navigate the roiled waters.

We are alarmed reading of Duterte’s shifting – confused? – positions on issues with China.

One time, he would be waving the flag with the war-red color on top, later advocating bilateral talks with Beijing for economic concessions, and then stepping back for multilateral talks in the company of neighbors.

As related by Ellen Tordesillas in her blog, Duterte said in an April 8 speech before travel executives: “I will ask the Navy to bring me to the nearest point in South China Sea xxx and I will ride a jet ski. I’ll carry a flag and when I reach Spratlys, I will erect the Filipino flag. I will tell them, suntukan o barilan!”

When Duterte said this, according to Ellen, he held a Philippine flag beside him. She related that later in the evening rally at Filinvest in Muntinlupa, he put in more drama: he kissed the flag.

She continued: “But even while Duterte said he will challenge the Chinese to ‘suntukan o barilan’ (much applauded by the audience), he also said, ‘I will not go to war because we will not win. It will be a massacre. I will not waste the lives of Filipino soldiers and policemen. Ano ako gago, patay lahat yan!”

Duterte’s announced willingness to talk alone with Beijing is the opposite of the tack adopted by the Aquino administration to confront China with a multilateral front of fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Duterte said that whatever be the outcome of the Philippine suit at the United Nations arbitral tribunal at The Hague, he was open to bilateral negotiations with Beijing. More so, he added, if he could get economic concessions.

He said he was open to a joint exploration with China of contested areas in the South China Sea: “If you want joint exploration, kung wala akong pera pang-equipment ko, just give me my part.”

As to concessions: “Build me a train around Mindanao, build me a train from Manila to Bicol, build me a train going to Batangas, for the six years that I’m president, I’ll shut up.”

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