No middle ground for Duterte

Catholics who took offense at Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte’s cussing Pope Francis, whose visit to Manila created a huge traffic jam, should hold their horses before condemning the controversial mayor to hell.

Duterte admitted in public that during Pope Francis’ state visit, he got pissed off because he got stuck in traffic for five hours which drove him to say, “Pope, pu—- in- ka, umuwi ka na (Pope, you son of a b—h, go home.”

We must remember that the Pontiff wears two hats: as head of the Roman Catholic Church, and head of state of the Vatican city-state.

Duterte was cursing the Pope not as head of the Catholic Church, of which he is a member of the faithful, but as head of state of the Vatican.

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Anyway, when Duterte swears Davao City folk no longer get shocked because they know it’s his way of expressing disgust or approval.

Approval, as in “put— in-, ang galing mo, pare (son of a b—h, you’re so good, my friend)!”

When Duterte is angry he cusses and when he’s happy he also swears.

“Bulaklak ng dila” (literally, flower of the tongue), as they say in Tagalog.

Yes, it’s vulgar, but show me a person who claims not to have cussed in his life and I’ll tell you he or she is a hypocrite.

Even priests cuss in private as one of my Catholic priests once told me.

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Duterte is either loved or hated; there’s no in-between feeling towards him.

You are right if you don’t like him because he comes across as gruff, brusque and vulgar.

But when you peel the layers off Duterte and discard his penchant for cussing like a stevedore, you will find a person who’s simple, sincere and altruistic.

The guy would take a bullet for a friend. His intense hatred for criminals comes from his concern for the safety of innocent citizens.

A former Davao City government prosecutor, Duterte has realized that the goody-goody treatment of criminals drives them to commit more crimes.

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Which would you choose: A leader who bares his soul to you or one who hides his real intentions and would sell your soul to the devil if he gets the chance?

Duterte is an open book to his constituents in Davao City.

They gloss over his womanizing ways because they know he’s an excellent and incorruptible leader.

Duterte is so unlike other public officials who project an image of being pious—some even make receiving Holy Communion a public act, for Pete’s sake!—but who rob the people blind and don’t care about their welfare.

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Even my idol, independent-minded senatorial candidate Walden Bello, grudgingly admits the citizenry likes Duterte because he promises to stop anarchy.

“I think Duterte is really dangerous, and I find his views on human rights appalling. But we cannot dismiss him. My sense is that his popularity comes from widespread perception that law and order are breaking down,” said Bello, former Akbayan lawmaker.

Squeamish citizens in Davao City were thinking the same way as Bello until they soon realized that people could safely walk the streets unharmed because criminals, whose rights they also wanted upheld, disappeared from the scene.

Which would you rather protect—the human rights of criminals or those of law-abiding citizens?

You can’t have it both ways if you want a crime-free society.