As long as President Duterte is using logic and reason, he is no threat to anybody – even to a powerful head of state of a powerful nation. Sometimes he is humorous, and in an instant he will explode, and being a first-class firebrand and extra tough, he won’t hesitate using expletives.
For 20 years as mayor of Davao City, the unenforced muteness resulted to mutual understanding between him and his constituents. We are now beginning to understand the man. His behavior would not necessarily be pleasing but those who watch and listen will agree that his actions are not disgraceful. His integrity and priorities for change are the aces in his sleeves.
Well, the cuss words shouldn’t have been there in the first place as he was on his way to meet US President Barack Obama in Laos. But let’s appreciate President Duterte for being contrite and he apologized already to Obama. The truth of the matter, the SOB thing was not really meant for the American president but was a spark, as an answer to a provocative question from a reporter.
President Duterte genuinely apologizing is a good sign. Our President, as he promised us – and maybe he promised himself too – that he will metamorphose from being a feisty city mayor into a statesman of a president. There’s no such thing as a one-strike policy. That one misstep is forgivable. Perhaps, most important of all is that we support our President in all the challenges he is facing.
