That’s the closest word we could think of to describe the latest outburst of President Rodrigo Duterte prior to his departure for the Asean summit in Vientiane, Laos when a reporter outlined a hypothetical scenario for the now-aborted meeting with US President Barack Obama, where the American leader would “question” the Philippine president about extra-judicial killings and human rights issues.
One could feel the indignation rising from the president as he fired back: “To whom shall I address myself to, and who would be asking the questions, may I know?” to which someone piped in – perhaps the Reuters rep – “Like Obama.”
For a person with a highly evolved sense of patriotism like the president, the thought of having to explain his government’s strategy in curbing the drug problem in the country to another nation or leader was unthinkable. Many of our buddies who are proud to call themselves “Dutertards” said they are fed up with the notion that since the Philippines is a smaller nation and needs the help of allies like the US in key areas like modernizing the military and securing our borders, we should not be offended when domestic policies and issues are questioned or scrutinized by officials of these nations.
Sure, hearing the expletives may be cringe-inducing, but many agree with the sentiment expressed by the president that we are not a vassal state and we have long ceased to be a colony of the United States. A careful watching of the video would indicate that the president may not have been specifically referring to Obama when he uttered the expletives that followed as he said, “Be respectful. Do not just throw [away] questions and statements. P… ina, mumurahin kita diyan sa forum na yan. Wag mo akong ganunin [Son of a bitch, I will curse you in that forum. Don’t treat me that way]. Tell that to everybody.”
As expected, the remarks created an international kerfuffle (we’ve been seeing a lot of this word lately so might as well use it) with many news agencies trying to outdo each other in coming out with attention-grabbing headlines, focusing on those P.I. remarks, but a careful scrutiny would show that President Duterte did not direct it at Obama but uttered a phrase that many Filipinos usually say when they are exasperated, angry or frustrated. As pointed out by benign0 of getrealphilippines.com, it would have been entirely different had the president added “mo” – a Filipino word that is roughly translated as “you” and directed specifically at a person. (Check out http://www.getrealphilippines.com/blog/2016/09/news-media-lied-dutertes-plan-call-obama-son-bitch/)
Many also agree, before any other nation starts questioning us about human rights issues, they should consider another Digongism: “look to their own backyard first and clean up their mess.”
Besides, the president did say he did not want to pick a quarrel with Obama but at the same time, he does not want to appear as if he is beholden to anybody, repeating that he is only answerable to the Filipino people. “I do not accept that proposition that anybody is superior than me. We are supposed to be equal there,” he said, adding that the Philippines may be small, hardly keeping up with economic problems but he will not allow himself or the Filipino people to be insulted.
That’s President Digong Duterte for you.
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