President Rodrigo Duterte was in the news again recently and for the wrong reasons.
First, because a cockroach landed on his shoulder while he was speechifying at a campaign rally in Bohol.
An aide saw the insect on his shoulder, tried to brush it off with a folder, but it crawled down his front and the President coolly brushed it off. This was just as he mentioned the name of senatorial candidate Imee Marcos.
Second, at the same event, he used gutter language to praise the looks of Mayor Tita Baja-Gallantes of Garcia Hernandez town in Bohol.
“You are truly beautiful,” he said in public about the mayor, whom he also alleged was separated from her husband. “If it were me, why would I ever break up with you? I will really grab and hold on to your panty if you try to leave, even until the garter snaps. You’re just too beautiful.”
I witnessed a similar incident a year or so before the 2016 presidential election that he won. It was at a turnover of donated equipment in Davao City and the then-mayor Duterte embarrassed a young woman, a member of the broadcast media, with his remarks.
She was kneeling in front of him with a microphone, and he said in Tagalog, “You are very beautiful. Do you have a boyfriend? I cannot concentrate while you are there in front of me,” and so in similar vein for quite some time, enough to make the donors from Manila visibly uncomfortable.
Netizens are laughing at the absurd conjunction of incidents in Bohol. An ipis lands on Duterte’s shoulder just as he is talking about Imee Marcos—it’s a sign! The ipis also appears at the same occasion as his smutty slavering over Mayor Baja-Gallantes—also a sign! No, these are not good signs.
Why is it important to call out rude and offensive remarks, particularly those uttered by a prominent person?
There is a chance that the behavior or attitude of famous people, even if negative, will be normalized or seen as acceptable, desirable, or even necessary, if it is done often enough to reach a tipping point.
Often, words and actions that conflict with the norm or reflect its negative aspects are called out or shamed, in an effort to instill social order. For the perpetrator to regain their former status in the community, they must perform restorative rituals; for example, apologizing, making amends, or changing their ways.
However, sometimes the behavior displayed by the prominent person gains traction. In the case of Duterte and his indecent remarks, his popularity serves to reinforce patriarchal attitudes towards women, and this could jeopardize the safety and wellbeing of individual women.
Not only is the content of such remarks offensive, his propensity to use gutter talk is likewise alarming. This is not the language of statesmen, nor of the president of a nation that seeks to place itself on a global footing.
Despite what has been said in the past to excuse his behavior, this is not the language of the poor, the uneducated, the ordinary man on the street. Philippine Star columnist Elfren S. Cruz wrote in 2016, “The use of gutter language is not limited to the poor since I have heard many of the rich in the most exclusive subdivisions in the country use profane or obscene language…
“I strongly object to the belief that the poor use gutter language as part of their everyday language —that vulgarity is part of the culture of being poor. This is such a demeaning view of the poor.
“I have met people who work with the poor every day—public school teachers, parish priests, social workers. They have told me that there is no difference between rich and poor in the use of language.”
None of this fazes President Duterte, of course. He doesn’t seem to feel the unease of his audience when he makes vulgar, even obscene, remarks to women. He doesn’t see that his lewd and salacious comments brand him as a lecher. He doesn’t appreciate that he is now on a world stage and his words and actions reflect on our country.
Words have power. Take care of those that come out of your mouth. /FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO
