Duterte: More dirty fingers

DAVAO CITY—Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he was not keen on answering the Ombudsman yet when the antigraft agency asked him to explain why he flashed a dirty finger on TV last month.

In fact, he said he will not hesitate to do it again if he were provoked.

“Yes, there will be more dirty fingers if I am disgusted and angry,” Duterte told reporters.

He said just recently, the Office of the Ombudsman sent him a letter asking him to explain his action. His son, Councilor Paolo, who also flashed a dirty finger, was being asked to explain, too.

“I am being asked to explain it. I want to write my own reply. I personally want to pen it. But now, my reply is just a smile,” the vice mayor said.

Duterte said flashing a dirty finger is “an exercise of my protected speech… it is my right which is covered by my right to free expression.”

Duterte said he could no longer take the criticisms hurled against his daughter, Mayor Sara, for punching Sheriff Abe Andres during a demolition of shanties in Agdao district.

Many critics called her “unprofessional.”

“The insults on her would goad a father to anger. It was my daughter who was being called names,” he said.

Duterte continued to defend his daughter by saying that critics, including those calling for her disbarment, were ignorant of the law.

“There was no sense in their insistence that the mayor interfered in a judicial process because the order was illegal from the start,” he said, pointing out that the demolition was carried out in violation of a law that requires a 30-day stay before eviction orders are enforced.

Duterte also reacted to criticisms he was being a bully. Jeffrey M. Tupas, Inquirer Mindanao