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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sotto sees better Rody-media ties

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Reelected Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III expects the rift between President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and the media to end soon because they are just getting to know each other right now.

Sotto said Duterte is still in the process of learning how to deal with the national media since he has long been accustomed to the local media in his hometown of Davao City.

He said Duterte himself admitted that he was not used to the national media.

The tough-talking Duterte, who was mayor of Davao City for 22 years, admitted he was more comfortable with the local media in his hometown who have been with him for many years. 

He said these journalists know him well and can tell if he was serious or was merely joking.

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Sotto said it’s also a good thing that the rift between the president- elect and the journalists covering him happened before he took his oath of office.

“There’s a big possibility for a good rapport between President Rody and the media because he knows how to get along well [with people]. He just needs to know when to crack a joke or not,” Sotto said.

Sotto, who was Quezon City vice mayor from 1988 to 1992, said the national media are more conservative than their local counterparts and are also more discerning in their questions.

He said the presidential spokesman and press secretary have the big responsibility of building a good relationship with the media.

Meanwhile, Duterte on Saturday admitted getting angry after being questioned by a journalist about the status of his health.

“There’s a reporter here that will make you the antagonist. He asked me, how is your health? I said that I’m fine, I’m good. Then this son of a bitch told me, where are your medical records? He asked me rudely,” Duterte recounted.

“Is that right, to question a person that way? What if I ask you, how’s your wife’s vagina?” Duterte said.

During a thanksgiving party this weekend at a local crocodile farm, the president-elect appeared to be still unhappy still with journalists, slamming a reporter for asking a “very impertinent question.”

“The people from Manila, your reporters like Manlupig, very impertinent question. No manners,” he said, referring to Karlos Manlupig, a local correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Manlupig denied Duterte’s claim. “I never asked Duterte about his health during the press conference in Mandaya Hotel,” Manlupig said.

Duterte had earlier dispelled rumors of his alleged deteriorating health but has admitted suffering spinal problems after a motorcycle accident years back. He has also spoken of having a disease involving the tissue in his esophagus and Buerger’s disease, a condition that causes constriction of the blood vessels due to smoking.

“Don’t worry about my health, worry about yourselves,” he said, addressing his supporters.

Duterte decided to stop holding briefings with the media after the international media group Reporters Without Borders urged local media to boycott his conferneces because of his remarks on the killings of corrupt journalists and wolf-whistling a female reporter.

“If you don’t want to boycott [Duterte], he said he will be the one to boycott you,” his personal aide Christopher Go told reporters in a text message.

Members of the Presidential Security Group barred private television networks from covering the thanksgiving party for Duterte “for security reasons.”

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