In the past two weeks, President Duterte and his allies have been kept busy attacking the President’s critics, in particular Vice President Leni Robredo, the European Union and the media. If there’s anything certain in the Homeland these days, it’s that if you criticize the President, you should expect a torrent of curses and counter-attack from the tough-talking Chief Executive, scheming political allies, and trash-talking trolls.
Sen. Leila de Lima, Duterte’s fiercest critics, learned this the hard way. Although still able to send press statements from her detention cell, the fiery lady senator has been effectively kept at bay by her incarceration on obviously trumped-up charges.
After releasing a video for presentation to the United Nations criticizing the Duterte administration’s brutal and deadly war on illegal drugs, Robredo is now feeling the pressure. Being a respectable and charming lady, she has been spared the expletives from Duterte but must now face an impeachment complaint filed before the House of Representatives, where the administration’s super majority hopes to end her Cinderella ascension to the vice presidency.
Duterte supposedly had ordered his allies to stop impeachment moves against her and personally reassured her that the impeachment wouldn’t succeed, but all these appeared to be another of his double-talk as very close allies Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez continued to work for her impeachment, with Aguirre saying Duterte’s remark about the impeachment moves against Robredo was just “his personal opinion.”
“Impeachment involves the power and discretion of Congress, so it will be a congressional call, not the President’s call,” Aguirre told reporters. Does he want us to believe that he would make that kind of remark without the permission of his boss? Apparently, Duterte doesn’t want to look bad before a charming lady like Robredo but just the same, he would be ready to pull the trigger if the latter makes a wrong move again.
The impeachment complaint was filed by Marcos loyalist Oliver Lozano after being encouraged by Alvarez’s remark that Robredo should be impeached for her treasonous act in the UN video. Over the weekend, thousands of loyal Duterte supporters held a “Palit-Bise” (Replace Vice President) rally at the Luneta to press for Robredo’s ouster.
If he were civil after Robredo’s criticism, Duterte was in his usual kanto-boy manners as he lambasted the European Union for criticizing anew his drug war, threatening to slap the EU’s “sons of b****** ” politicians.
“Come here and we will talk because I want to slap you,” he told the members of the European Parliament which had threatened to withdraw tariff privileges on Philippine exports.
A few days earlier, after the EU Parliament passed a resolution condemning extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and calling on the Philippine government to immediately release De Lima, the President flared: “You madmen, you sons of b******. Stop interfering with us. I would be happy to hang you. If it were up to me I would hang you all.”
The worst was yet to come. Obviously pissed by the daily reports on criticisms on extrajudicial killings and other controversial issues that continue to hound his administration, Duterte lashed at the owners of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the ABS-CBN News, calling them “oligarchs” and “scourges of society.”
“Journalism is always antagonistic, but do not put too much slant [in the reports],” Duterte said in his expletive-laden speech in Malacanang. “You smell bad. The Prietos, the Lopezes – you’re full of shit,” he said. He claimed that media organizations would publish anything they would be paid to publish. “These rich people, you think they’re so honest, respected members of society. These sons of bitches are all about money. It’s true,” he said.
And then he went on as he singled out the Inquirer: “What I’m saying is, they are the ones saying I am killing the poor. Yesterday’s Inquirer was really bullshit, son of a bitch. It’s really garbage. Even during the elections.”
Duterte said he was not scaring the Inquirer, but it would meet its “karma” someday.
“Talagang mga walanghiya ang mga putang-inang journalists na yan (These son-of-a-bitch journalists have no shame),” he fumed. Whew! If that did not sound like a threat, I must be imagining things. Or maybe, the President was just using a “hyperbole,” as his spokesman Secretary Emilio Abella says every time his boss explodes into his trash talks like a runaway train.
It does not end there.
“That is the truth, Inquirer: You are bullshit, and also ABS-CBN,” he said. “You put out garbage. Somebody should tell you now, you sons of bitches, you engage in too much foolishness. Somebody should say: ‘You son of a bitch.” They might be afraid to say it. I will attack, even every day.”
“Ulol pala kayo. Mabuti magkababuyan na tayo dito. Eh ano? Di magbabuyan tayo araw-araw (You jerks. We’d be better off smearing each other here. We can do this every day),” he added. And then he threatened to put up his own program on government-owned PTV-4 to launch his attacks against the media. He even threatened to expose the lives of the media owners’ children.
Is this the President of the Republic of the Philippines? Is this the leader elected by 16 million Filipinos last year?
As a longtime journalist, I stand side by side with media men in condemning Duterte’s rants against the media. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reflected the sentiments of self-respecting media members in the country.
“Your incoherent and foul-mouthed rant against two of the country’s major media outfits – the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN – was not only unwarranted, it was absolutely twisted,” the NUJP said in a statement.
The President was the one who was rude, not the media agencies, NUJP said.
“It was a brazen abuse of your immense power as chief executive of this land and only shows how little, if any, appreciation you have of democracy and governance,”” it said. “It is a mindset of the petty tyrant who mistakenly believes public office is an entitlement that allows you to flaunt the laws of the land that both grant you power and ensure the checks that prevent you from abusing that power,” it added.
It also said it would be futile to ask Duterte to apologize or to come to his senses.
But the independent media would not stop doing its job just because of his rants, it said.
“But one thing we can assure you of, Sir, your curses and your threats cannot and will not prevent us, the community of independent Filipino journalists, from fulfilling our duty to inform the people as best we can of what is happening to our country, whether you agree with what we report or not,” NUJP said.
Amen.