Allies to Duterte: Open your mouth only when you can talk like a president
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PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly shown aversion toward acting and speaking like a statesman, but even his allies agree he is duty-bound to act and speak diplomatically.
Keep your mouth shut and open it only after you have learned to talk like a president.
Some of President Duterte’s allies in Congress who had that advice for him on Monday said they expected to be blasted for it, but they aired it just the same because the Philippines needed |protection against backlash he |regularly drew with his intemperate language.
“Be refined”
In the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fari๑as advised Duterte “not to speak anymore” until he could adjust to refinement required of statesmen.
In the Senate, Senator Richard Gordon said Duterte had a duty to be a statesman and he should moderate his language |to protect the Philippines against |fallout from his outbursts over international criticism of his brutal war on |drugs.
On Friday, Duterte drew swift condemnation from the Jewish community, Israeli and German governments, United Nations, United States and international human rights groups for drawing parallels between his bloody campaign against drugs and the Holocaust.
Noting that Adolf Hitler killed millions of Jews before and during the Second World War, he said he would be “happy” to slaughter 3 million drug addicts in the Philippines.
A statement from the Malaca๑ang Palace on Saturday, attributing the Hitler analogy to Duterte’s rivals in the May |presidential election, failed to put out |the fire and the president was forced |on Sunday to apologise to the Jewish community.
Insulting leaders
Duterte, who had been a long-time mayor of Davao City before being elected president in May, had also insulted US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union for expressing concerns about extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs.
He had called them “sons of bitches” and “stupid” and told them not to meddle in his fight against the illegal drug trade, which has cost the lives of more than 3,000 people since he took office on June 30.
The killings had drawn warnings of cancellation of aid to the Philippines and withdrawal of foreign investments, and Duterte’s profanity-laced outbursts in defence of the killings have brought shame to the country.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network
