President Rodrigo Duterte turns 72 today. While he might insist that he is not big on birthday celebrations and would like to be frugal, he may not be able to escape the profuse greetings that will flood him today, from supporters and critics, in the flesh or on social media.
There are many ways to spend a birthday, even when you are president.
One could pretend it is an ordinary day. There is much work to be done—and not only in terms of the war on drugs. More importantly, poverty and scandalous inequality hound the nation. Not one minute must be lost in working to change the situation.
One could, as the President wishes, spend it with the people who matter most. Mr. Duterte is not a conventional family man, but like anybody he needs the warmth and familiarity of his children and grandchildren.
One can go away for a day and rest. Nobody will begrudge the President if he needs some time to be by himself. Sometimes a break is all one needs to think clearly.
Taking stock of what has happened in the past is also common. We wonder whether, on his birthday last year, Mr. Duterte imagined he would be where he is today. The nation, at around this time last year, most certainly didn’t. In the past few months, we have seen and heard more about him than we ever anticipated. He promised change—things do look different these days, even as we are still deciding whether the change is cosmetic, purely for effect, or whether it is substantive.
Most importantly, one can plan how one will spend the rest of his life —or at least, perform the job for the remainder of his term. Mr. Duterte’s leadership style has thus far managed to bring out extremes: some who extoll everything he says and does, and those who portray him as a dangerous person on whose whims our collective fate hinges.
We join the chorus of those who wish him well, but we would skip the saccharine part. His loyalists are doing enough of that already. Instead we wish him an even ride. We do not doubt he has seen much wild action in his early life. Now that he is 72, and now that he is president, he no longer has to prove he is a misunderstood maverick with a heart of gold. He just needs to be diligent and consistent and reliable, somebody we don’t need to second guess. We need to be able to take him at his word. It's that basic, yes, but it’s that important.
And no, not everybody who sings him praises is on his side. Not everybody who points out his mistakes is an enemy. What we wish for the President is to be able to tell them apart.