Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Reactions to Rodrigo Duterte's Profanity-Filled Proclamation Speech

*** THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN WORDS NOT SUITABLE FOR MINORS... OR WHOEVER ***

Putang ina. This particular expression was the go-to-move of aspiring presidentiable Rodrigo Duterte this November 30 when his party PDP-Laban proclaimed him as their standard bearer. It is an expression many find taboo and hurtful. That being said, it is a common expression being used by many of us Filipinos.

Aside from the constant appearance of "putang ina" or any of its varieties, Mayor Duterte also sprinkled some "Fucks", "Fuckshits", jokes about marijuana usage and a reference about masturbation in his speech. It was certainly a colorful, be it, disjointed speech. A portion of the crowd certainly thought so.

That being said, many were not pleased with the mayor's speech.

Gabriela did not appreciate how Duterte nonchalantly admitted having several partners. According to them, "womanizing and treating women as objects are an affront to women and it should not be flaunted".

People from the Roman Catholic church certainly did not appreciate him cursing the pope and making light of how he kills criminals in Davao. Archbishop Oscar Cruz was quoted in a report by GMA saying Duterte is dangerous. He says Duterte only acknowledges his own rights and he is worse than a dictator. As expected, CBCP president Socrates Villegas was also not pleased.

MAYOR DUTERTE?What the world desperately needs now is leadership by example. We have so many leaders in office and...
Posted by Socrates B. Villegas on Monday, 30 November 2015




Mayor Duterte was really on a roll yesterday. He made enemies out of a lot of people. He may have even turned off some of his supporters. It was crazy. Mar Roxas' own "PUTANG INA!" moment paled in comparison to this one. This profanity-laden speech was something special. I can't imagine anything like this happening again in the near future.

That being said, I find the reactions to Duterte even more reprehensible than his actual speech.

Duterte is a breath of fresh air. Here is a guy who doesn't give a damn about politicking. He's very vulgar like most of us. And like all of us, he has a basket full of flaws pulling him down. His style is certainly more palatable to me than the clean-cut trapos spewing generic gibberish in their campaign rallies.

In saying that, I will not endorse Mayor Duterte for president. It's not because he's a foul-mouthed old man who has four women satisfying his sexual needs. It's because he prefers to have bilateral talks with China and in doing so, killing our political leverage. It's because I can't see him handling International Policy effectively. It's because I don't agree with his style of enforcement where civil liberties are not respected. It's because his reasoning can be flawed sometimes like how he justified his adultery by saying if he can love an entire city, he can surely love four women. It's because he has yet to speak of certain issues I feel strongly about like the PPP law this administration is silently getting done. It's because he changed his stance on taxation from calling for the exemption of poor families in June to being against lowering tax rates in late November

Hopefully, people voting for him don't see a tough guy who will solve all our problems. Hopefully, they vote for him because of his stance on same-sex marriage or feudalism or iron-fist enforcement. Hopefully, they vote for him because they are willing to compromise some of their beliefs because in their view, Duterte's ideas can lift our nation instead of Duterte himself lifting our nation.

Mayor Duterte can call Pope Francis whatever the hell he wants. If there is a God and He decides to banish Duterte to hell for his remarks, that's on Duterte. But that should not have any weight on his style of governance.

Politics is the art of making people believe in what you are saying. It is up to us, the people, to judge ideas based on their merits and not on the merits of the ones who came up with them.

2 comments:

  1. I think it's a shock because the Filipino people are used to politicians kissing asses and bowing to please them. Not saying what Duterte does is right or impressive. I'm saying they all have their flaws. It just so happen that one of his is that he's too honest for the "timid" and "mahiyaing" Pinoy.

    I am a Catholic and it's offending at first when I heard him cussing the Pope, but then surprisingly, I still wanted to vote him not for that mistake but because I think he's the most deserving to lead the people, correct the country's mistakes and protect us from the real bad guys.

    He's apologized and explained his side. I think now we should do what we must as Christians---forgive.

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    1. Speaking personally and void of political constructs, I hate how people are condemning him because he cursed the pope and yet were perfectly fine with him admitting he committed killings of criminals without trials. I don't mind personally if people think that forgoing the courts is needed to lower crime rates. But if they are going to change their minds about voting for Duterte because he cursed the pope and not because of the killings, well they can just kiss my ass... hehe.

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