He said, Xi said

MANILA
“China will not allow you to be taken down from office….and will not let your country go to the dogs.”
There goes President Rodrigo Duterte again. Is that one of his yarns that he himself tells us he throws at us every now and then?
I don’t know whether the President does it for his amusement or for ours. But, as he has told us before, not everything he tells the people is true.
Last week Mr. Duterte, from out of the blue, announced that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, told him the quote at the beginning of this column, that China won’t allow Duterte to go down in a coup d’etat.
I think the President does it to confuse us. He likes to keep the people off their stride. It’ one of Mr. Duterte’s tricks up his sleeve.
So, is this new China story true or just another one of his fish tales?
Is there any intel that says there’s a brewing coup d’etat being plotted by Duterte’ adversaries? There hasn’t been anything in the news. But of course, if it’s good intel, it wouldn’t be in the news for all to feast on.
Why would Xi suddenly blurt out that China will not allow Duterte to go down? There doesn’t seem to be any immediate reason to reassure Duterte that he has nothing to worry about.
So, I think Mr. Duterte is pulling our legs again with this latest “joke.” He likes to play mind games with the people. That’s his feudal way of keeping the people on their toes, always making them think there’s something to worry about.
But Duterte must be wary. If he keeps “joking” this way, sooner or later, no one will believe him anymore in the future. One of these days, people will simply conclude that everything Mr. Duterte says is a joke, or worse, untrue.
And, quite frankly, what purpose does it serve to confuse people? While his yarns may amuse him and at the same time keep people guessing, this kind of behavior is unpresidential, it’s undignified and it cheapens the presidency.
The people don’t quite know what to make of Mr. Duterte. He himself has said he ran for president, not for statesman. Well, he is the President and he has to be statesmanlike.
He’s no longer mayor of a provincial city. And, to make his people proud, he has to be seen as being presidential.
So, as far as this new China story is concerned, I for one don’t believe it happened. I don’t believe Xi Jinping told Duterte that China won’t let him “be taken down.” I think it’s just one of Mr. Duterte’s infamous jokes.
Does that make Duterte a liar? It makes him a jokester.