Move along, now. There’s nothing to see here except two guys acting like children in a schoolyard when they really should know better.
The word war between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former Secretary Mar Roxas has escalated to absurdity, with the latest salvo coming from the tough-talking local executive, who is now challenging the former US investment banker to a gunfight. This, after Roxas dared the 70-year-old mayor to quit talking about a slapping contest and engage him in fisticuffs instead.
But I think nothing violent will come out of this. It’s all for the benefit of the media, as both parties try to win a pissing match that neither of them now know how to get out of.
All that remains is an exit program that will be acceptable to both parties, I think. But if you’re hoping for an old-school duel to the death or even a pillow fight, I think you’d be severely disappointed.
Oh, there will be a lot of backdoor wrangling over who says what and how, what words should be put in a joint statement of reconciliation and when that will be issued. Either that, or both parties will just decide not to add more fuel to the fire anymore, in effect calling an undeclared truce that will be as icy as the Cold War of decades past.
But I’m sure that neither of these supposedly grown men seriously entertains the thought of an actual physical clash that is only going to be counter-productive to both their presidential campaigns. And I further believe that it is more in Roxas’ interest to just clam up and ignore Duterte, no matter how much that will hurt his fragile macho pride.
What, after all, will this new harsher, angrier Roxas do to improve his chances of winning next May? Nothing, really, except reinforce his image as an uppity, short-fused and totally inauthentic kanto-boy wannabe.
Duterte, on the other hand, will just twiddle his thumbs in Davao and continue to throw barbs at Roxas every chance he gets. But if Roxas doesn’t feel compelled to reply anymore, people will just wait for more of the same from the mayor, this time directed at his other rivals like Senator Grace Poe or Vice President Jejomar Binay.
It was a no-win situation for Roxas from the very start, anyway. And yes, I’m not talking only about his now-celebrated word war with Duterte.
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It’s important to remember that Roxas, at one point, was courting Duterte to be his running mate, making several offers to the mayor to join him in continuing on the “daang matuwid” as the former secretary’s vice presidential candidate. Similar offers, according to people close to the mayor, were made by the other presidential candidates at various times, but all of them were turned down by Duterte.
But while Duterte also said no to the overtures of Binay and Poe, he was particularly harsh with Roxas. Outwardly, of course, both camps say that the two are close friends and comrades who cooperated closely—but in reality, they probably never liked each other.
At one point, when Roxas visited Duterte in Davao, the mayor actually made the administration candidate wait for two hours before meeting him at a hangar in the southern city. According to one source, the meeting had been arranged by a top religious leader who was close to both men.
But the mayor didn’t really want to see Roxas and only arrived as President Noynoy Aquino’s candidate was about to board his plane to leave Davao. By that time, Roxas had already been waiting for Duterte for two hours.
This was right after journalist Philip Lustre wrote a Facebook post claiming that Duterte had cancer. But because he could not refuse the religious leader, the mayor put in an appearance, even if he was intentionally and terribly late.
The meeting was not cordial. “What do you Malacañang people want to do to me?” Duterte demanded from Roxas, who was silent and chastened.
According to another source, Duterte saw through Roxas, whom the mayor disliked for his “teka teka” type of leadership and for his penchant of “using” people to get what he wanted. And even that early, this source added, Duterte had already figured that if he sought the presidency, he would have to fight Roxas for it.
Besides, I think it really hurt Duterte when Roxas described the improvements in the peace-and-order situation in Davao as a “myth,” citing statistics the former interior and local government secretary got from the Philippine National Police. Because Roxas questioned the veracity of a claim that the law-and-order mayor was proud of, Duterte has now upped the ante, leading to the current exchange of ever-escalating challenges.
But I still believe that nothing will come out of this, especially for Roxas. I guess we shall see in the coming days how this particular farce will end.