At a time when everybody seems keen on outdoing himself or herself, an assistant secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development has gone too far in defending the administration to which she belongs.
Social Welfare and Development official Lorraine Marie Badoy, in a Facebook post, exalted President Rodrigo Duterte’s early lead in TIME Magazine’s survey of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The polls opened Friday and will close on April 16.
Badoy pointed out that Duterte leads other global celebrities such as Pope Francis, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
She also cited a survey that said nine out of 10 Filipinos approved of the way he is running the country.
“Nothing and no one can stop it right now,” Badoy gushed. “He [Duterte] is beloved.”
She could have stop there. She said: “Wrap your dim minds around that, you clowns.”
She aimed her stinging words at the President’s critics: Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, who filed an impeachment complaint against Mr. Duterte, and Vice President Leni Robredo who told the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs that Filipinos were hopeless and helpless living under Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs. She described the men as snotty children, and Robredo as having a singsong voice and a creepy smile. She told them to join a knitting club or bake red velvet cupcakes instead.
What took the cake, however, is her message to the European Union officials who criticize the President’s methods: “Just do online child porn. That’s where you’re good at, anyway.”
Badoy’s brand of sarcasm has gone viral and has only done much to bring down the conversation to the gutter, even as sarcasm is normally seen as a thinking man’s humor. Stating facts would have sufficed.
Then again, this is the Duterte era. Anything goes.
We wished Badoy were just a vociferous social media personality—but she is not. She represents an agency of government tasked with ensuring children do not fall victim to predators in any form.
We know she is joking, of course. But there are some things that should not be joked about—not even in her desperate attempt to show her fierce devotion to her infallible president.