Tit for tat and all those jazz

FILIPINOS are either enamored with the probinsyano President Rodrigo Duterte or regard him with contemptuous ill will. We have here a leader whose uncanny idiosyncracies are not akin to the norm of traditional politicians thus we see a clash of sentiments among those who trust and approve of Duterte’s leadership style and those who do not. This is a free country after all. If Digong were a congee cook he can only please 91 out of a hundred people as 9 would prefer Leni Robredo’s lugaw.

When a number of Presidential Security Guards were found positive of Covid-19, the 76-year old President has to be isolated. He worked in a private confine in Malacanang. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Spokesperson Harry Roque were also infected and had to be confined. I would imagine Malacañang became a virtual spawning ground of coronavirus and therefore needed to be thoroughly sanitized.  If CNN Philippines, which trivialized a fake photo of the President on a wheelchair, ceased broadcasting to disinfect its studios why not the office of the Chief  Executive? The President canceled a scheduled public address and thereafter was promptly sheltered from guests to include the Malacanang press. His sole company was a long-time confidant and executive assistant and now Sen. Bong Go.

His disappearance elicited rumors that the President is sick and must have been infected with Covid. Even VP Robredo cannot resist fanning the flame while eagerly waiting in the bend. Not even Bong Go’s pictures of the President and himself working in a private room could convince the salivating opposition that  Duterte is A-Okay. From her prison cell, Leila de Lima posted she does not need “proof of life”.  When the President told her to shut up, she intoned: “Hangang ngayon ba problema mo ako?”.  But that’s De Lima who made herself famous by admitting she is a frail woman ”. 

The truth of the matter is that since 2009 when she was Chairperson of the  Commission of Human Rights up to when she was Justice Secretary and finally as Senator and now behind bars, she had been hounding Rodrigo Roa Duterte with accusations ranging from human rights violations, extra-judicial killings, and the Davao Death Squad.  She started off with 1,200 EJK victims of DDS which she claimed was organized by Duterte. She is lying on both issues. DDS was a myth,  a band of phantom soldiers conceptualized by then Col. Dionisio Tan-gatue Jr. at the height of the communist insurgency in Davao City. Digong that time was briefly a Tanodbayan for Mindanao and then later an Assist. City Fiscal.  Politics was not a figment in his imagination. De Lima and her perjured witness Edgar Matobato alleged that many EJK victims were buried in an abandoned quarry in Davao City. Up to this time moreover, she has yet to produce a single remain of a victim.  Not even when she and her ilks had raised their statistics to 27,000!

President Duterte has a mean sense of humor. He made his critics gone gaga and had a fiesta over their fantasy that he is ill and might be kicking the bucket anytime soon. A pervert even created by a photoshopped picture of Duterte trying his hand on a new motorcycle model with some aids helping him out and made it appear as if he is being assisted on a wheelchair. But true to form, they did a lousy job. Where in the world can you find a wheelchair with rearview mirrors? The President,  am sure,  was not also amused with him shown in over-size baggy pants and rubber shoes.

Anyway, as rescheduled Duterte emerged on TV, and by the looks of him, he was well and hale and was in a fighting mood. It was tit-for-tat with detainee Leila getting a mouthful.

The President later listened to the updated reports of the Inter-Agency Task Force which focused on the urgent need for additional admission facilities for Covid patients.  Sec Carlito Galvez and Health Sec. Francisco Duque were all praises of the modular quarters that DPWH Sec. Mark Villar designed.  It was obvious that President Duterte had already learned of what Villar had done and acknowledged the contribution of the DPWH  Secretary.   The President however showed some impatience why despite the fact that the state of emergency had been declared following the pandemic there is reluctance in exercising emergency power to address urgent needs. Sensing Duque and Galvez have not absorbed what he said, he proceeded to lecture them to go ahead expropriate hotels to accommodate Covid patients.  Watching the entire episode on TV one can only hope what the President told them had sunk into their consciousness.

After giving IATF his sermon he proceeded with a scheduled telecon with Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin. Highlights of the talks centered on the procurement and delivery of Sputnik V vaccines, security, and trade.

All the above activities in a day’s time. That does not look like a heavy load of tasks that a sick man can tackle.