The Last Monday Flag Ceremony of Duterte in Davao (27June)
Posted on Tuesday, 28 June 2016
The Last Monday
Flag Ceremony of Duterte in Davao (27June)
By Apolinario Villalobos
Listening to the radio broadcast of the
speech of Rodrigo Duterte during the last flag ceremony that he attended as
mayor of the city, listeners could feel his closeness to his constituents who
trusted him for so many years. Non-Visayans who can understand only a
sprinkling of the Cebuano dialect should not immediately make judgments or
impressions after hearing familiar cusses and other words which may sound
vulgar to them. This is how his morality and personality was unfairly misjudged
by those from Luzon who have a different culture. If Duterte spoke in Bisaya
during the flag ceremony, they should understand that he is in Davao speaking
before a throng of Visayans.
Reporters should know by now that what
makes Duterte cuss are words such as “drugs”, “drug lords”, “drug addict”, “rapists”
and “corruption”. This is observable, for every time he mentioned those words
during his speech, he tried with much effort to control himself not cuss, but
with futility. Meanwhile, reporters should also be wary about questions that go
beyond the borderline of privacy, and those which are already asked, but just
repeated as if to test his consistency and recall ability. He is not a showbiz personality
who needs media mileage to maintain a high degree of popularity. Duterte
expects so much work to be done and this is what he will do despite his
forthcoming “meager” salary which he jokingly declared to be just enough for
his former wife and current “girlfriend”, with nothing much left for him. Some
of those in the media who are so presumptuous about their “ability” to
manipulate government officials by putting words in their mouth should stop
such antic. Duterte is very much different from the presidents who came before
him…as he knows his purpose for the Filipinos and the country. And, as he
himself said, he would rather be left alone working, than be interviewed.
Manila reporters should start getting
firsthand information on Duterte by talking with media people from Davao so
that they can make the necessary adjustments to the personality and working
habit of the new president. They should remove from their mind that being
“Tagalogs”, they are superior to their Visayan counterparts. On the other hand,
as an unsolicited suggestion, media entities in Manila should start hiring
Bisayans to enhance their stable of field reporters and broadcasters. This shall
preclude any misunderstanding as had happened even while Duterte was still
campaigning.
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