Malacañang Palace as seen from across the Pasig River (Photo from malacanang.gov.ph)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte “is not a bully” despite allegations that his verbal threats and curses are tantamount to being bully, Malacañan Palace said Monday.
“To bully is to inflict injury, pain, and fear against those who are weak and incapable of fighting back or defenseless,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement issued on Saturday.
He pointed out that the President only threaten criminals and corrupt government employees.
“The criminals and the corrupt violate the law with impunity. They feel no fear in their hearts to account for their crimes,” he said. “They kill, they rob, they plunder the people’s money, they couldn’t care less if as a consequence of their crimes people suffer or die.‘
“[The President] threatens the criminals and the corrupt with punishment as a retribution for their wrongs,” he said. “He curses the hypocrites to let them know that they can not deceive the people with their hypocrisy.”
Panelo also defended the President’s strong language, saying his “outrage on any unlawful activity is expressed in strong and hyperbolic language for emphasis and effect.”
“His manner of speaking has been factored in — and accepted by the electorate when they overwhelming voted him into presidency,” he added. “Only the critics and detractors classify him as a bully because either they can not swallow the reality of what he says or they feel alluded to.”
Criticisms that the President is the “number one bully” in the country surfaced after the now viral video of a Ateneo junior high school student bullying his schoolmates.
The student was eventually dismissed by the school administration, amidst public outrage.
A day earlier, Panelo texted to INQUIRER.net a similar statement on the issue against the President. /atm