EDITORIAL - It takes character to understand Duterte

If President Duterte is sometimes uncomfortably too quick with his words, there are also people who are dangerously more quick with their interpretations. And that is precisely what happened with regard to the latest flap involving the president, this time when he mentioned Congress and the Supreme Court, which according to the interpretations, he has vowed to defy in relation to his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

But Duterte never said he would defy Congress and the Supreme Court. He never said that and it can be validated by again going over the speech he made before soldiers in Sulu. What Duterte actually said was that he would not listen to Congress and the Supreme Court. When it comes to martial law, it is the soldiers and the police to whom he would listen.

And what he said further ought to be even more crucial. Duterte said he will listen only to the soldiers and police because it is they who are on the ground. It is they who know the real situation and can tell him whether or not it is already safe to lift martial law. But this crucial element got lost in all the hurry by the critics to lambast the president.

The president has critics in Congress and in the Supreme Court, both of whom do not have any real and direct first-hand information about the situation in Mindanao. That is why Duterte said he is not going to listen to Congress and the Supreme Court. He never said anything about defiance. If the critics only took the time to listen until the last word had been said, they would have heard the president say he has no real intention of keeping martial law any longer than necessary.

Unfortunately for this nation, we have critics of the president who are on the lookout only for any controversial things the president might say. And once he says them, off to town they go lambasting the president, never waiting for the qualifiers that he is prone to say much later. We have all seen this before, the most memorable being his order to kill drug suspects, with the qualifier about resisting arrest or putting up a fight completely ignored and forgotten.

This president needs a little careful listening to. But that is actually a very small price to pay if one is truly interested in the truth. For sometimes it takes a lot of patience to ferret it out. On the other hand, the president may be a "probinsyano" and a little crude in his habits. But he is still the president and thus still deserving of the nation's respect. Your refined ears may not like the way he says things, but act out your refinement and politely listen.